In politics, gestures reveal more than a thousand speeches: they not only define a strategy, but a vision of the world. By ordering his Armed Forces to support Nicolás Maduro in the face of any unlikely foreign intervention, President Gustavo Petro is not only taking sides in a conflict, but also laying bare the hierarchy of his loyalties and the price he is willing to pay for them.
The order came just after the United States raised the reward for the capture of Maduro, accused of drug trafficking and terrorism, to $50 million, doubling the previous figure of $25 million.
Petro, who built his political career denouncing authoritarianism, militarism and defending human rights, has repeatedly referred to the Armed Forces as a pillar of peace. If those premises were sincere, the president should be on the side of the Venezuelan people who suffer repression, not in the defense of a dictator who has restricted freedoms, rights and any notion of human security.
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Santiago Vidal Calvo is a Cities policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute.
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