Iván Cepeda is a senator for the Pacto Histórico, the left-wing alliance that backed Colombian president Gustavo Petro’s election, and its candidate to succeed him as president in the general elections of May and June 2026. A human rights defender, Cepeda has a long political career that has led him, at different times, to be active in the Communist Party, the Patriotic Union, the Democratic Alliance M-19 (the party that emerged after the 1990 demobilization of the M-19 guerrilla group, to which Petro belonged), and later the Democratic Pole, now merged with other forces into the Pacto Histórico.

Cepeda is known for his role in various peace processes with the now defunct guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and with the National Liberation Army (ELN), a guerrilla force that remains active after various failed negotiations. His father, Manuel Cepeda, a congressman for the Patriotic Union — a party that emerged from a peace process with the FARC — was assassinated in 1994 by paramilitaries in a campaign of extermination of the party’s leaders, for which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned the Colombian state. After his father’s murder, Cepeda promoted the National Movement for Victims, with the aim of achieving justice for the people murdered by state agents and paramilitaries.

Cepeda was also involved in the judicial process that ended in the initial conviction of former president Álvaro Uribe for witness tampering in a case related to his alleged connections with paramilitary groups. Even as the outcome of the process remains uncertain, it has become the most famous trial in Colombia in recent history and has weakened Uribe, who remains the main figure of the Colombian right.

Barely a week has passed since the US attack against Venezuela and the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro on the orders of Donald Trump, who has also repeatedly threatened the Colombian president. Unlike Petro, known for his hyperbolic style and frenetic use of social media, Cepeda answers questions with a firm but measured tone.

Jacobin spoke with Cepeda in Madrid, during his trip to meet with Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez and to hold gatherings with the large Colombian diaspora in the country.

Pablo Castaño

How do you assess the US attack against Venezuela and Donald Trump’s threats against Colombia and other countries in the region?

Iván Cepeda

I do not see these as random or isolated events. They are all contained in the new doctrine of the United States toward the western hemisphere that is clearly set out in the National Security Strategy made known in December. That strategy has a section titled “The Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine,” where it clearly states that the United States has the right to exercise hegemony over the entire western hemisphere to maintain its strategic objectives and goals and to exert political, economic, and military control over the region.

It clearly indicates how to operate: classify governments either as friends or, if they’re against its strategic interests, enemies. Accordingly, they will be dealt with through blackmail and pressure if they do not follow Washington’s guidance. Or they will simply be deposed or eliminated, as we have seen in Venezuela, and we are beginning to see in Colombia. These are not random actions; nor should they each be considered separately, but rather within this global vision of the international neofascist far right.We are a zone of peace, and we do not accept foreign interference.

Pablo Castaño

Do you give credibility to Trump’s threats against President Gustavo Petro?

Iván Cepeda

You have to give full credibility, I don’t know if to a direct intervention, but certainly to hostility from Trump and the US government against our government, and the intention to prevent progressivism from continuing forward in Colombia. President Petro has been included on the “Clinton List,” which brings together those citizens that the United States considers drug traffickers or who have assets linked to drug trafficking. It is an openly hostile act taken without any public justification. It is the first time it has been taken against any president of Colombia.

We have also seen bombings on our coasts and the decertification of Colombia [as a nation that fights drug trafficking] after making an immense effort against drug trafficking. Everything indicates that a path is being laid to not only make it increasingly difficult for Petro to govern but also to frustrate the possibility of me being elected.

Pablo Castaño

Do you fear a direct intervention by the United States in the upcoming elections?

Iván Cepeda

Yes. When a foreign power issues opinions against a government during an electoral period, when it says that government has favorable attitudes toward criminal organizations, that it can have a harmful effect on the region — that has a purpose. Figures from President Trump’s circle, both congresspeople and administration officials, have spoken in this way.

Pablo Castaño

Beyond the statements, do you believe there could be a more direct intervention by the US government during the campaign and the presidential and legislative elections this year in Colombia?

Iván Cepeda

We will see. There is a real danger. There are precedents.

Pablo Castaño

Does the phone call that Petro and Trump had on January 8 resolve the situation, or will it only be a pause?

Iván Cepeda

It is welcome if the purpose is to reduce hostility. But it is definitely not simply with calls [that the situation is resolved]. There are facts here that are plain to see: there is a gigantic aircraft carrier off the coast of Colombia, a military presence never seen in the past, and the president is on a list of drug traffickers. Calls are welcome, but these facts remain.Miami and Florida have become a center of international politics, coordinating the efforts of the hemispheric far right.

Pablo Castaño

During 2025, Trump carried out hostile acts against various Latin American countries, but no regional organization — such as CELAC or Unasur — managed to agree on a common position. Do you believe that, following the attack against Venezuela, greater unity can be achieved in the region, also with conservative governments?

Iván Cepeda

More than a particular event, one must understand what political and historical moment we are in and the clear orientation that the US government has taken. Without a panoramic view, one falls into reactive or adaptive behavior. Events keep occurring and chaotic pronouncements are made. Each blow is more severe than the last, but one reacts as if it were possible to reverse the trend.

We must act with a strategic view, beyond such and such event. We must establish a strategic position: We are a sovereign continent. We are independent countries. We have unification processes, which we have been cultivating for a long time, that must be strengthened. We are a zone of peace. And we do not accept foreign interference. That is how governments and peoples must align.

Pablo Castaño

The Left has been defeated in recent elections in Chile, Honduras, Argentina, and Bolivia, in several cases by the far right. How do you explain the rapid growth of the far right in Latin America in recent years?

Iván Cepeda

You would have to look at each case — I don’t think they can be the subject of general statements without considering specific conditions. But the influence of the Trump government is significant. Miami and Florida have become a center of international politics, coordinating the efforts of the hemispheric far right. They have behind them powerful economic conglomerates, which resort to all kinds of methods. Unlike the politics carried out by the Left, dirty methods of doing politics are common on the far right. This strategic offensive on the continent — all that plays a role. There is also a strengthening of the Left in certain countries and social mobilizations in all of them.

Pablo Castaño

How has the Colombian right reacted to Trump’s threats?

Iván Cepeda

The far right is aligned with Trump and the most reactionary sectors of the United States, beginning with its head, Álvaro Uribe. Every day they go to the media to promote US intervention in Colombia.

Pablo Castaño

Could this position harm them electorally?

Iván Cepeda

Without a doubt. There may be some support in certain sectors, so lacking in dignity, for such a proposition, but in the country there is a sense of sovereignty and respect for our nation. That, I believe, has electoral effects.

Pablo Castaño

The Left came to power in Colombia for the first time four years ago with an ambitious program of social reforms. What is your assessment of Gustavo Petro’s presidency?

Iván Cepeda

It is the first government that has brought about social change, [although] not all of the changes that were wanted and not free of errors, gaps, mistakes — for example, having had to endure corruption, a serious problem that must be eradicated, and the conditions must be created so that it does not happen again in a left-wing government. There are clear social achievements, confirmed by statistical data, international organizations, and the simple fact that there is a very broad social base that supports our government and my candidacy.Petro’s government has managed to lift more than two million people out of poverty.

It has been the first government to carry out serious agrarian reform, distributing an unprecedented amount of land without comparison in previous governments, and has formalized land titles for peasant, Afro-descendant, and indigenous communities. It has begun territorial transformations; it has managed to lift more than two million people out of poverty; it has significantly increased the minimum wage and has achieved labor and pension reforms. It is the first government to carry out a tax reform that follows the principle of progressive taxation: those who have more must pay more. There is a long list of social triumphs, which are reflected in the popular support for the government and for my candidacy.

Pablo Castaño

What are the main pending tasks of the Colombian left?

Iván Cepeda

We must focus on specific social reforms, to deepen them so they become irreversible. To lift many Colombians out of poverty, it is necessary to tackle social inequality with profound measures of change and reform to social programs. That is what I will dedicate myself to. The best way to do so is by prioritizing and strengthening a relatively small set of initiatives.

Pablo Castaño

Petro set out to achieve “total peace,” but the internal conflict remains active in Colombia. If you are elected president, what will you do to pacify the country?

Iván Cepeda

We must apply ourselves to solving the problem in the territories affected by the conflict. If there are no social changes in those territories — basic ones, such as providing water, electricity, and communication routes — it is very difficult for the peasant and agricultural economy to prosper.

Without that, the entire area is left open to the economic control of the territory by the exploitation of mineral resources, illegal gold mining, and drug trafficking. In those circumstances of economies linked to the bloody processes of the exploitation of resources and people, the conflict has a much more favorable space to deepen.

Pablo Castaño

Gustavo Petro won the elections in 2022 after a strong anti-neoliberal social movement. What role have social movements had in Petro’s government, and what role will they have in the Left’s campaign?

Iván Cepeda

A central, leading, indispensable role from my point of view. There cannot be a new progressive government that is not intimately, organically linked with social movements. It is with them that one must govern.

Pablo Castaño

How is this done in practice?

Iván Cepeda

It is done with care and attention, prioritizing it as an essential matter. There must be a permanent presence and dialogue, a constant attitude of listening and dialogue. That is not a dialogue without contradictions or disagreements, but it must be done, taking into account what [those involved in social movements] think, how they have struggled, how they have asserted their programs and aspirations.