Overview
- On Wednesday Petro held a private meeting at Mexico’s Palacio Nacional with President Claudia Sheinbaum, who offered him a role in academic coordination that he said he declined because he plans to live in Colombia.
- Hours later he delivered a delayed, widely attended keynote at UNAM where he accused bots and ‘algorithms’ of distorting Colombia’s 2026 vote and named private firms BlackCube and Thomas Greg & Sons while blaming U.S.-linked actors, a set of claims reported as his allegations.
- Petro used the visit to formalize a publishing agreement with the Fondo de Cultura Económica for his book Economía Política de la Crisis Climática and met leftist figures including writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II and former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa.
- The trip follows a Senate vote in mid‑August that authorized Petro to travel abroad for up to a year after leaving office on August 7, allowing this first post‑presidential international engagement.
- His public warnings could push Mexican and regional authorities to step up scrutiny of pre‑count software, social‑media bot networks and private intelligence firms ahead of Mexico’s 2027 midterms and Brazil’s upcoming vote while coverage split between his cultural agenda and his accusations.