Colombia’s president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, recognized Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in the Brazilian elections and defended maintaining cooperation between the two countries despite political and ideological differences, according to Brasil 247.

“In the Colombian presidential campaign, President Lula openly backed Iván Cepeda and I won. In the Brazilian campaign, I backed Bolsonaro and Lula won. Neither does Lula decide for Colombians nor do I decide for Brazilians. THE PEOPLE DECIDE!”, he said.