NLG Demands Respect for Self-Determination, Human Rights and Popular Sovereignty as Crucial Elections Unfold in Colombia and Perú

June 2, 2026

The National Lawyers Guild stands in solidarity with the people of Colombia and Perú in defense of their rights to self-determination and popular sovereignty pursuant to the UN Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and all relevant provisions of international law, and against persistent efforts by the Trump administration and its
allies to intervene as crucial presidential elections unfold in Colombia on June 21 and in Perú on June 7.

The Unites States government has instigated lawfare against President Gustavo Petro of Colombia along the same lines as the illegitimate prosecutions and actions taken against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and former Cuban President Raúl Castro, under the guise of the so-called “war on drugs.” These actions have taken place in addition to continuing instances of illegal military strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, and threats of military intervention targeting Cuba, Colombia and Mexico, among others.

All of this amounts to the contemporary equivalent of Operation Condor from fifty years ago, which constituted the Latin American component of the global Cold War, at the cost of hundreds of thousands dead, disappeared, tortured, persecuted and driven into exile as victims of U.S-backed military dictatorships throughout the hemisphere.

These elections reflect broader struggles between reactionary, repressive forces in Latin America aligned with MAGA’s hemispheric agenda and its reactivation of the Monroe Doctrine and “Manifest Destiny” as guiding threads in U.S national security strategy, and progressive social movements in defense of human rights and popular sovereignty and against militarism
and ecocide that have risen up in resistance throughout the region. U.S envoys such as Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno actively and openly intervened in the first round of the Colombian elections on May 31, helping tilt the result narrowly in favor of the most extreme right candidate, Abelardo de La Espriella.  Abelardo de La Espriella has long been publicly known for his connections, through his law practice, to the most corrupt and violent narcoparamilitary sectors in Colombia.

Equivalent forces are lined up behind Keiko Fujimori in Perú’s run-off on June 7. It is striking how both Abelardo de La Espriella and Keiko Fujimori converge in their defense of impunity for those charged with serious human rights crimes, and take populist-sounding “hard lines” on issues of public security, insisting on implementation of measures taken from Bukele’s playbook in El Salvador as their models.

In contrast both Iván Cepeda in Colombia, a widely respected human rights defender, and center-left opposition candidate Roberto Sánchez in Perú, have long stood with victims of mass human rights crimes in their countries and have insisted on
accountability for perpetrators associated with U.S-backed régimes such as those of Álvaro Uribe, Alberto Fujimori, their allies and successors.

The NLG will collaborate closely with international partners and partners on the ground to monitor the elections in bothColombia and Perú, and their results and implications for the region. The NLG will be especially attentive to any efforts by the Trump administration or its allies to intervene openly or covertly, as has been evident in contexts such as Honduras, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico and Brazil.