Other11 July, 20263 min read
Gustavo Petro Accuses BlackCore of Election Interference in Colombia
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Outgoing president Gustavo Petro accuses Israeli cyberfirm BlackCore of election interference. Petro alleges about half a million automated bots deployed to sway voters.
Petro alleges cyber bots
Outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused Israeli cyber-intelligence company BlackCore of executing a massive digital disinformation campaign to manipulate the outcome of Colombia’s recent presidential elections. Petro said on US social media platform X that BlackCore deployed “500,000 bots—fake profiles—to manipulate the Colombian electorate with millions of lies about Ivan and me,” and he described the alleged interference as “the hardest blow to national sovereignty since the Spanish reconquest.” The accusation followed challenger Abelardo de la Espriella’s razor-thin victory in the June 21 runoff election by a margin of less than 1% over the ruling party’s candidate, Ivan Cepeda. Petro also said he would refuse to recognize “the legitimacy of the incoming government,” and he called on supporters to launch a nationwide mobilization on July 20. Colombia’s National Registry and the National Electoral Council (CNE) issued a joint statement confirming the total transparency and security of the vote-counting software and explicitly denying any unauthorized modifications to government server IP addresses.
Isaac Accords in Jerusalem
Argentine President Javier Milei arrived in Israel on Sunday for his third trip in two years since his election as president, and he met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Milei and Netanyahu announced direct flights between the two countries by the end of the year and signed the Isaac Accords, described as strategic agreements focusing on security and artificial intelligence (AI). Netanyahu said in his address that recent political changes in South America mark the return of the alliance of freedom, and he joked, “We had Abraham, and now we have Isaac. What will the Jacob Accords be?” A joint statement released later in the day said the Isaac Accords would bring together “the descendants of Isaac and nations of Judeo-Christian tradition for the defense of freedom and democracy.” Milei said Israel is “a leading technology power,” and Argentina has “the human capital and the regulatory freedom needed to become the next global AI hub,” adding that they would develop common models and train experts.
War against Iran and embassy
Milei told Netanyahu that the war waged by the United States and Israel against the Iranian regime was “the right thing to do,” and he said, “We have expressed our firm support for the United States and Israel in their war against terrorism and against the Iranian regime.” In the same joint statement context, Milei referred to Buenos Aires attacks in the early 1990s, saying “Argentina was the victim of cowardly terrorist attacks (...) both orchestrated by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” and he said “To this day, we continue to demand that justice be served.” The sources also tie the diplomatic push to Milei’s stated plan to move Argentina’s embassy to Jerusalem, with the Israeli-Palestinian status of Jerusalem described as “one of the most thorny issues” and the embassy currently in Tel Aviv. Under Milei’s government, Argentina designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its overseas elite unit, the Quds Force, as terrorist organizations, and the American ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, attended the ceremony. The TRT Español account says direct flights between Buenos Aires and Tel Aviv are expected to be launched starting in November, according to an agreement signed on Sunday.