Marxist former President of Colombia Gustavo Petro this week suggested that Swedish DJ Avicii was allegedly killed as part of a conspiracy to protect Jeffrey Epstein.
“This video of the Swedish composer Avicii possibly cost him his life,” Petro wrote in a Twitter post. “He was on Epstein’s island and decided to file a worldwide complaint, but he turned up dead before presenting it.”
Petro accompanied his message with a YouTube link of a video of Avicii’s 2015 single “For a Better Day” featuring English and Spanish subtitles written by Peru-based translator Bruno Traductor. The song’s video tackles themes of child slavery and child sex trafficking.
Petro did not provide any further information or evidence to substantiate his claims. The former Colombian president published a copy of the same message on his official Facebook page.
As Breitbart News reported in 2018, Avicii, whose real name was Tim Bergling, was found dead in Muscat, Oman. A private funeral was held by his family and closest friends in Stockholm in June of that year. The video of “For a Better Day” marked Avicii’s directorial debut alongside the video for another of his singles, “Pure Grinding,” which tackled the subject of gang violence.
“All the songs have a story I wanted to tell,” Avicii told Billboard in 2015. “The promise of a better life often traps families and children into being used as tools for some of the most despicable people on earth.”
“It’s an issue about which I hope to start a louder discussion, especially now with the huge number of families on the move from war-torn countries looking for safety and shelter,” he continued.
No evidence has been presented that Avicii had any relation to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender and billionaire financier accused of running child sex trafficking operations. Epstein was found dead in a jail cell in Manhattan about a year after Avicii’s death. Epstein’s death was also ruled a suicide.
Petro’s message suggesting that Avicii was killed as part of an alleged conspiracy to protect Jeffrey Epstein is not the first time the former president has publicly suggested a conspiracy of that nature involving the late Swedish DJ.
In October, during the final year of his presidency, Petro — who at the time erroneously wrote Avicii’s name as “Aivicii” — shared another YouTube link to “For a Better Day,” describing the song as a “libertarian dream.”
“They held a beautiful tribute for him at the Colón Theater in Bogotá, to which I wasn’t invited,” he wrote.
“He died at age 28; they say it was a suicide. Some say he was murdered because of this video, which addresses the trafficking of girls and freedom,” he continued. “While the press spreads Gury’s fascism, I want to show you art and freedom.”
Petro published the message in the aftermath of a series of violent pro-Hamas and anti-Israel protests that took place in the Colombian city of Medellín marking the second year anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. At the time, several outlets reported that a man later identified as Medellín Councilman Andrés “Gury” Rodríguez of the conservative Democratic Center Party used a bat to fend off a group of violent protesters that terrorized citizens inside a McDonald’s restaurant. Petro did not explain at the time what relation the contents of Avicii’s video had to the violent October 2025 protests in Medellín and Rodríguez’s actions.
Gustavo Petro served as president of Colombia for four years between August 2022 and August 2026. He was succeeded by current conservative President Abelardo de la Espriella on August 7. Petro, Colombia’s first and so far only leftist President and a former member of the Marxist M19 terror group, is widely known for publishing unproven conspiracy theories and unhinged rants on social media and defending them in interviews — many of which resulted in serious diplomatic crises for the South American nation during Petro’s presidency.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.