The Latin American Report # 535

Colombian President Gustavo Petro publicly questioned the awarding of the contract for handling the logistics of the upcoming national elections in the coffee-growing country to the multinational Colombian company Thomas Greg & Sons. Petro uses to be very vocal—sometimes to a fault—in his thoughts, but here he is indeed pointing to a significant issue, one that also reflects—as he has come to understand—that gaining power is one thing, while taming this beast embodying a carefully constructed network of interests is another. At first glance, it seems contradictory that a private company holds the monopoly on passport printing in the country—a matter under scrutiny by the head of the Nariño House—and now, on top of that, is set to receive the hefty sum of some 520 million dollars to manage the strategic electoral process, from biometrics to vote counting.

Petro argues that the bidding process should be genuinely competitive beyond what appears on the surface. It is said that only Thomas Greg & Sons submitted a final proposal, though it was not the only company that showed interest in obtaining the award. Another firm, according to the autonomous body in charge of this matter, did not submit a final proposal, citing that the "current national context presents particular challenges in terms of governance and institutional stability." "I do not want to postpone elections, but bringing in a company whose software was implicated in electoral fraud—no less than by Colombian justice—completely jeopardizes electoral transparency," said the first left-leaning leader produced by Colombia’s tumultuous democracy, although without pointing to any evidence. The 2026 elections will be an interesting test of the impact of this first-time scenario on the electorate, amid a highly tense political situation for the former guerrilla due to the lack of progress in his peace agenda and the chronic disunity within his cabinet.

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Bolivia

The latest controversy in La Paz is linked to the legislative debate over two lithium exploitation contracts, one of them favoring CBC, a well-known Singapore-based company. The parliamentary opposition, which has the accidental support of lawmakers aligned with Evo Morales, argues that the administration of Luis Arce is pushing hard for the approval of the contracts, which they claim undermines the interests of local communities and involves other irregularities. For example, it is alleged that one of President Arce’s sons is responsible for negotiating the lithium projects. In this sense, some defend that the government’s insistence with this issue just months before the elections stems from an alleged commitment with the Chinese to secure the approval of the contracts, for which they must now answer.

Bolivia has been fairly consistent in favoring Chinese and Russian investments in this critical sector, which has also drawn the attention—and the scrutiny—of the United States through its Southern Command. One of the contentious points in terms of congressional procedures is how the voting for (dis)approving the contracts will be conducted, with loyalists of the Great House of the People insisting on a secret ballot, enabling opponents to say this is a way to avoid accountability to civil society. In one of those shameful scuffles that occasionally erupt in parliaments, last week we saw a lot of chaos in one congressional session, including water and garbage being thrown at the Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy.