Colombian President Petro Account Retweets Fake News

The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, was the victim of fake news about the conflict in the Middle East. On Saturday, April 13, after the Iranian drone attack on Israel, the Colombian head of state wrote a comment on his social network account stating that Russia would support Iran in case of an attack on that country by Israel’s ally, the US.

“It was foreseeable; we are now in the prelude to World War III, precisely when humanity should rebuild its economy towards the rapid goal of decarbonization. The US support, in practice, for genocide has set the world on fire. Everyone knows how wars begin, no one knows how they end,” said Gustavo Petro on his X account.

To accompany his words, the Colombian president republished a post which falsely presented Russian President Vladimir Putin as offering his support to Iran. “Vladimir Putin: ‘If the United States carries out the slightest attack on Iranian soil in support of Israel, we will also enter the battle in support of Iran’,” an account called “Sr Liberal” said in a fake news item. Some time later, Gustavo Petro deleted the post from his social network account

Petro deleted the comment

The Colombian president had fallen victim to fake news, publicized by an account without the name of any person or entity and which only uses the username ’Sr. Liberal’. In the face of claims that affirmed Putin’s support to Iran in the case of US attacks on the country, Petro called for the intervention of the United Nations to de-escalate the conflict.

“I wish the people of Israel were lofty enough, like their ancestors, to stop the madness of their ruler. The United Nations must meet urgently and must immediately bet on Peace,” said Petro.

Not the first time

The Colombian president is one of the most active leaders on social networks. Even before becoming president, Petro used X to express opinions or send political messages regularly. Between official comments and personal reflections, the politician writes an average of 20 posts per day on X. This practice has generated more than one headache for the Colombian head of state, as today’s incident is not the first time that he has been deceived by fake news.

Six months ago, in October 2023, something similar to today’s incident happened to him. Back then, Petro echoed the false report of the death of Amartya Sen, Nobel laureate in economics. “A terrible news. My dearest Professor Amartya Sen has died minutes ago. No words,” read the post that he replied to, which had been issued by an account named Claudia Goldin.

Perhaps one of the most controversial cases of fake news was the plane crash of the indigenous children in the Guaviare jungle in May last year. Petro echoed a news item that came directly from the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF), the state entity in charge of the custody of children in distress, and which affirmed that the four minors had been found.

The news, which was not verified by those responsible for the search, turned out to be false and the children were not found until many days later. Petro deleted his post and apologized. “I have decided to delete the tweet because the information provided by the ICBF could not be confirmed. I am sorry for what happened,” the president explained.