“There are 10 months left to rescue Colombia”

Journalist Vicky Dávila has worked for various Colombian media outlets for 33 years. On Saturday, she spoke with El Economista about her intention to run in the 2026 presidential elections.

—A prestigious journalist like you, why would you want to be president of Colombia?

Because we're going to lose Colombia. That's the only reason. We're at enormous risk of losing democracy, freedom, order, and institutions.

—On June 7, the attack against presidential candidate Miguel Uribe occurred. A few days later, the Minister of the Interior called him to warn him of a plot to assassinate him. Are you afraid?

If you let fear take over, you become paralyzed. I take these threats responsibly, making the necessary decisions regarding safety to ensure nothing happens to my family and me, but I'm not afraid.

— You mentioned that the hateful rhetoric used by President Gustavo Petro created an environment conducive to the assassination of Miguel Uribe.

Petro is the politically responsible person for the attack on Miguel Uribe. He has tried to corner and harass the opposition.

— In 2023, Nicolás Petro, the president's son, acknowledged that drug trafficking contributed money to his father's campaign. Do you fear this could also happen in the run-up to the next presidential elections?

I reported the case, along with my team of journalists, when I was editor of Semana. Today, the president's son is on trial, but they've used every trick in the book, and the trial hasn't even begun. Drug trafficking will always want to infiltrate campaigns. There must be an unrestricted position of decency and unwavering honorability to prevent that from happening. Colombians know of my unwavering honorability, and I would never allow corruption, crime, or dirty, corrupt money to reach my campaign. I prefer to lose but remain honorable.

—What would your foreign policy be like?

With diplomacy, respect, and seriousness. We will work with the United States. Israel will return on August 7, 2026; we will work with the United Kingdom and with friendly countries. We will respect the different governments. We will work with President Trump. We will do this by fighting drug trafficking together; organized crime together. Petro is a complete irresponsible man.

—How do you imagine the relationship with Mexico would be?

It will be a respectful relationship with Mexico. You always choose your best friends, but that doesn't mean the others are enemies. You have to have a good relationship. The Mexican cartels are in my country. And Colombia has become, under this administration, the pantry, the supplier of cocaine and cocaine for the Mexican cartels.

—Are you afraid that the relationship between Petro and Maduro will harm Colombia?

Petro has no principles, no values. He has a plan; he doesn't do anything without a thimble. He's not alone; there's Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, China, Iran. Why do you think Petro was never able to condemn the Hamas terrorist attacks that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel? He's on the side of Hamas because he was born into a terrorist group.

—How have business leaders responded to Petro's economic policy?

The business class faces an immense challenge of being more courageous, because we need business leaders to fight this battle and ultimately win the elections.

—That is, they have not been critical of the government.

It's not that they aren't critical, it's that there are many threats to their interests. Physical threats to their interests.

—How would you describe Petro's economic policy?

Petro harbors an ideological resentment whose purpose is to fight for a supposed equality where we are all poor. That is the ideology of communism and socialism. Petro is an ideological offspring of socialism and communism. Within that offspring, he has an ideological mandate to wipe out private enterprise, to nationalize everything, to dismantle the armed forces, to damage the economy. To spread hatred.

—He has expressed concern about next year's elections.

I take this opportunity to ask countries around the world to help us ensure we don't lose our democracy. Help us monitor these free and democratic elections; we don't want to lose our country. We have 10 months left, and it's all or nothing: to save or lose Colombia.