Daniel Ortega calls Petro and Lula "crawlies," and Colombia responds: "At least I don't drag the human rights of the people."

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, responded to the recent insults from his Nicaraguan counterpart Daniel Ortega, who called him "crawling" for his stance on the electoral fraud in Venezuela.

In a recent virtual meeting of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), Ortega launched harsh criticisms against his counterparts from Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Colombia, Gustavo Petro, for not recognizing the results of the recent presidential elections in Venezuela.

Ortega, who is a firm ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, questioned the attitude of Lula and Petro, accusing them of aligning with foreign interests and acting shamefully.

"The way you have behaved, Lula, in the face of the legitimate president of Venezuela's victory is shameful. Shameful! Repeating the slogans of the Yankees, of the Europeans, of the subservient governments of Latin America. You're crawling too, Lula!" Ortega expressed.

Regarding Petro, he commented: “What can I say to Petro? Poor Petro, poor Petro. I see him as competing with Lula to see who will be the leader to represent the Yankees in Latin America. But poor Petro doesn't have the strength that Brazil has.”

In response, the Colombian president used his account on the social network X to defend his position, arguing that his government seeks a negotiated and peaceful solution in Venezuela.

Petro also took the opportunity to counterattack Ortega over the accusations of human rights violations in Nicaragua.

"Daniel Ortega has called us dragged along, just because we want a peaceful and democratic negotiated solution in Venezuela. Such an insult allows me to respond: At least I do not drag along the human rights of the people of my country, and even less those of my comrades in arms and the fight against dictatorships," said Petro.

It's not the first time that Petro and Ortega, two former leftist guerrillas, have criticized each other.

However, unlike his moderation in referring to Maduro, the Colombian president has not held back criticism of the authoritarian drift of the Nicaraguan leader.

This exchange of statements arises after a joint communiqué between Colombia and Brazil, where they did not recognize Nicolás Maduro as the elected president in the elections held on July 28 in Venezuela and requested evidence of the election results.

This, despite the fact that in his previous terms, Lula da Silva was a great ally of chavismo, but now, just like former Argentine president Cristina Fernández, he has requested to show the voting records. The allegations of electoral fraud in Venezuela are substantiated.

Last week, the United States and 10 Latin American countries rejected Maduro's proclamation as elected president and called for verifiable evidence to restore credibility in the process.