Bogota, September 13 (RHC)-- The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, warned of a plan to overthrow him from office.  During an event in Armenia, Quindío, where he met with representatives of alternative media, the president exposed details of what he considers an imminent threat against his government.

"A coup d'état is not the generals of the Police and the Army, looking for how to take over the Palace and remove the president.  No sir.  The oligarchs of the country are not so stupid.  It is a Colombian coup d'état," Petro declared before the audience.

The president said that there are significant sums of money involved in these attempts to remove him from office.  To contextualize his argument, Petro cited recent events in other Latin American countries, such as the attempted military uprising against Bolivian President Luis Arce, on June 26 this year; and the removal of President Pedro Castillo in Peru on December 7, 2022.

Petro said that there is a plan to kill him or remove him from office in the next three months.  "They wanted to see if what Salvador Allende did was repeated, blocking the roads to overthrow the president, which is what they want to do: either the President dies or they overthrow him.  The order has been given," said the president.

The Colombian head of state added that this alleged coup d'état would be "financed by the mafia."  He criticized the process that the National Electoral Council (CNE) is carrying out against his presidential campaign for alleged irregular financing, suggesting that there are economic interests behind the case reaching the House Accusations Commission, in order to suspend him from office.

Gustavo Petro argued that, in the event of his departure from office, the next president of the Republic would be Efraín Cepeda, current president of the Senate.  

The president stated that, if he did not have popular support, this alleged coup d'état would have been carried out immediately -- but, instead, they are planning it for three months from now.  

These statements have generated an intense debate in the country about political stability and tensions between the government and various sectors of Colombian society.