Colombia’s Petro to Skip Inauguration, Calls Election a ‘Fraud’

Colombia's outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, has confirmed he will not attend the August 7 inauguration of his successor, Abelardo de la Espriella. Petro continues to reject the election result, repeating his claim that the vote was fraudulent. “I cannot accept a president, and that is why I will not be anywhere on August 7, nor shake his hand,” Petro said. “Let him say so, but he knows why, because it is a fraud.” The decision breaks with a long-standing tradition in which the departing head of state accompanies the president-elect during the oath-taking ceremony before Congress.