Colombian presidential elections

2022 - 6 - 19

Gustavo Petro

Post cover — Image courtesy of "The Washington Post"

Gustavo Petro, former guerrilla, will be Colombia's first leftist president (The Washington Post)

The leftist's win was a resounding rejection of the political establishment that has ruled the South American nation for two centuries.

Petro denies he was involved in the siege; he was imprisoned at the time. For generations, many Colombians have associated the left with the armed insurgencies in its long history of conflict. “Latin America is going its way and the United States is going its way,” he said. President Biden has described the country as the “keystone” of democracy in the hemisphere. In Chile, the free-market model of the region, voters this year chose as president 36-year-old former student activist Gabriel Boric. And in Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, leftist former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva leads polls to unseat President Jair Bolsonaro in October. We look forward to working with President-Elect Petro to further strengthen the U.S.-Colombia relationship and move our nations toward a better future.” He also said he would normalize relations with neighboring Venezuela, a significant shift from Duque, one of the region’s staunchest opponents of socialist president Nicolás Maduro. And his victory is a loud rebuke of the deeply unpopular administration of incumbent Iván Duque, who many felt did little to improve the economic situation in one of the region’s most unequal countries. Petro called for a “great national dialogue” to unify the country and build peace. “I hope that this decision that has been made is beneficial for everyone,” he said in a video address on social media. His presidency could have profound implications for Colombia’s economic model, role of government, and its relationship with other countries in the hemisphere — including the United States, its most important ally. Petro’s triumph, in one of the most historically conservative countries on the continent, is a stunning example of how widespread discontent has shaken the status quo.

Leftist ex-rebel Gustavo Petro wins Colombian presidency in narrow ... (CBC.ca)

Former rebel Gustavo Petro narrowly won a runoff election over a political outsider millionaire Sunday, ushering in a new era of politics for Colombia by ...

"Many people said, 'I don't care who is standing against Petro, I'm going to vote for whomever represents the other candidate, regardless of who that person is,"' said Silvana Amaya, a senior analyst with the firm Control Risks. "That also works the other way around. It is a looser community, which the candidate reaches directly via social networks." The rejection of politics as usual "is a reflection of the fact that the people are fed up with the same people as always," said Nataly Amezquita, a 26-year-old civil engineer waiting to vote. "May so many sufferings be cushioned in the joy that today floods the heart of the Homeland." In recent legislative elections, Petro's political movement won 20 seats in the Senate, a plurality, but he would still have to make concessions in negotiations with other parties. "I accept the result, as it should be, if we want our institutions to be firm," Hernandez said in a video on social media.

Leftist Petro Claims Victory in Colombia's Presidency Election (Bloomberg)

Gustavo Petro took the lead in Colombia's presidential election with the majority of votes tallied, putting him within reach of enacting a radical overhaul ...

Leftist Petro wins Colombia presidential election (Reuters)

Leftist Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement who has vowed profound social and economic change, will be Colombia's next president ...

Colombia Election: Gustavo Petro Makes History in Presidential ... (The New York Times)

A former rebel and longtime legislator won Colombia's presidential election on Sunday, galvanizing voters frustrated by decades of poverty and inequality ...

“Why? Because the person grew up in the context of love and support.” “What’s key is that he wasn’t part of the main circle who made the decisions in M-19. He was very young at that moment,” she said. To a segment of Colombians who are clamoring for change and for more diverse representation, Ms. Márquez is their champion. She grew up sleeping on a dirt floor in a region battered by violence related to the country’s long internal conflict. It turned into a political party that helped rewrite the country’s constitution to focus more on equality and human rights. The M-19 was born in 1970 as a response to alleged fraud in that year’s presidential elections. Mr. Hernández and Dr. Castillo said that, if elected, she would have also become the minister of education. There are now nearly nine million Colombian voters 28 or younger, the most in history, and a quarter of the electorate. “Because of the family togetherness.” He is calling for a halt to all new oil exploration, a shift to developing other industries, and an expansion of social programs, while imposing higher taxes on the rich. “Colombians, today the majority of citizens have chosen the other candidate,” he said. For decades, the government fought a brutal leftist insurgency known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, with the stigma from the conflict making it difficult for a legitimate left to flourish.

Former guerrilla Gustavo Petro wins Colombian election to become ... (The Guardian)

Former fighter in the M-19 militia beat populist business tycoon and fellow political outsider Rodolfo Hernández in runoff on Sunday.

A host of traditional politicians were ousted in the first round. “It really is a new moment for Colombia,” said Luis Eduardo Celis, who works at the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, a Colombian thinktank. Duque has been accused of slow-walking the accord’s implementation in order to undermine it. “I’m very happy with the election of the new president. “Today is a party for the people,” tweeted the victorious candidate on Sunday night after results came in. “I sincerely hope that this decision is beneficial for everyone.”

Colombia Braces for Historic Change With Leftist Petro President (Bloomberg)

Colombia is bracing for the prospect of a radical change in economic and political direction after electing a former guerrilla to the presidency on a ...

Ex-guerilla fighter Gustavo Petro wins Colombia's presidency (Aljazeera.com)

Petro's win in Sunday's presidential runoff election makes him the country's first leftist president. He won 50.4 percent of the vote, while his rival Rodolfo ...

“The time has come to build peace, a peace that implies social justice.” Petro has said that he is willing to resume diplomatic relations with Venezuela, which were halted in 2019. Some 2.3 percent of voters turned in protest votes, backing neither candidate. “Finally, thank God. I know he will be a good president and he will help those of us who are least privileged. “I’m celebrating because finally we’re going to have change … this shows there is hope,” academic Lusimar Asprilla, 25, told the AFP news agency. Petro has pledged to fight inequality with free university education, pension reforms and high taxes on unproductive land. Petro himself was once a rebel with the now-defunct M-19 movement and was granted amnesty after being jailed for his involvement with the group. “I sincerely hope that this decision is beneficial for everyone.” “The will of the Colombian people has been heard, it went out to defend the path to democracy and peace,” said Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, who has been branded a dictator by the opposition in his own country. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent congratulations to “the people of Colombia for making their voices heard in a free and fair presidential election”. In his victory speech, Petro, 62, issued a call for unity and extended an olive branch to some of his harshest critics, saying all members of the opposition will be welcomed at the presidential palace “to discuss the problems of Colombia”. A senator and a former mayor of Bogota, Petro’s victory underlined a drastic change in presidential politics for a country that has long marginalised the left for its perceived association with the armed conflict.

A President Who Did Everything Right and Got No Thanks (The Atlantic)

The perplexing part of Colombia's electoral choice of a former leftist guerrilla over a right-wing populist is how unheralded the success of the outgoing ...

Colombia’s new president will inherit all of these challenges, plus soaring inflation and a possible recession in the United States, by far Colombia’s most important trading partner. That resentment became the basis for a more militant Colombian far right—a resentment then reinforced by anti-immigrant sentiment, with the influx of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans asylum seekers into Colombia. Colombian society remains cleaved by the aftermath of the left-wing insurgency of the 1970s and ’80s, as well as by the opportunistic alliance those guerrillas formed with drug-trafficking cartels like the one once run by the notorious Pablo Escobar. A lengthy peace process produced an agreement signed in 2016 that provided amnesty for former guerrillas. As he coped with these emergencies, Duque upheld Colombia’s trading relationship with the United States, ratified by the U.S.-Colombia free-trade agreement that entered into force in 2012. He took a hard line against Venezuelan subversion and threats to export revolution to Colombia. At the same time, Duque extended refuge to Venezuelans fleeing the disaster in their country. Duque used some of this wealth to bolster the nation’s shaky social-insurance system. Yet he seems as vexed by the impact of social media as politicians decades his elder. In that four years, he oversaw a record of policy success unmatched in recent South American history. Welcome to the Colombian presidential election of 2022. One who explained his praise for the Hitler dictatorship by claiming he had confused Adolf Hitler with Albert Einstein? Or one whose attempt to renationalize garbage collection in his city left mountains of trash piled in the streets? An elderly TikTok star who compares himself to Donald Trump? Or a former Marxist guerrilla who attended the funeral of Hugo Chávez? A candidate notorious for his radical flip-flops on public policy? Or a candidate notorious for his intolerance of any kind of disagreement or dissent?

Colombian presidential elections

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