He spent 12 years of his youth in the ranks of an urban guerrilla group, taking the pseudonym of a revolutionary general from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. He would later serve as progressive mayor of Bogota, the capital of Colombia, and as a senator. He ran for president twice without success, unable to overcome the conservative wall built nearly two centuries ago around the Colombian presidency.
But on Sunday, 62-year-old Gustavo Petro finally broke down the wall and was elected president, making history as the first left-wing head of state in South America.
“We will not betray the electorate that screamed at history,” Peter said in a triumphant victory speech in Bogota on Sunday night to enthusiastic applause. “It is that as of today, Colombia is changing.”
Petro’s journey from the ranks of the M-19 guerrilla movement to the presidential palace in Bogotá included an arrest for possession of a weapon when he was younger. He also said he had been tortured. The M-19 was demobilized in 1990, with some members signing Colombia’s current constitution. Other members were killed, including Carlos Pizarro, his presidential candidate that year.
Petro’s victory over Rodolfo Hernandez, a business tycoon and blunder former Bucaramanga mayor who once called Hitler a “great German thinker,” was met with coupons in the streets by supporters across the country. He will take office in early August.
Colombian elections: Gustavo Petro is elected first left-wing president – video
“Petro has a completely different vision because he has focused on the most vulnerable people in the country,” said Andres Felipe Barrero, who voted for Petro on Sunday night. “And that includes people who live in the marginalized neighborhoods of Colombia’s big cities, as well as blacks and local communities.
As mayor of Bogotá, he has earned a reputation for being high-ranking and hostile to his critics, while implementing a program to reduce harm to the city’s homeless, as well as trying to reform garbage management.
Petro’s vice president will be Francia Marquez, the first black woman to hold the post. Marquez, a single mother and human rights activist from Colombia’s oppressed Pacific region, won the prestigious 2018 Goldman Environmental Award.
“After 214 years, we have achieved a government of the people, a people’s government, of people with calluses on their hands, a government of the people on their feet, of no one in Colombia,” Marquez said at the celebration.
Despite the euphoria on Sunday night, Peter’s time at the post is likely to be extremely challenging. Not only does his share of 50.47% of the vote give him a thin mandate, he is viewed with extreme suspicion by a significant part of the country, who equate him with rebel groups and left-wing powers in the region.
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“In a traditionally conservative right-wing country, some Colombians fear how much can change with the left-wing government,” said Silvana Amaya, a senior analyst at global consulting firm Control Risks, ahead of Sunday’s vote. “Some Colombians liken Chavez’s left to the socio-economic misery in Venezuela. Others believe that a country that has experienced internal conflict for more than 60 years, led by left-wing guerrilla groups, should not allow such an ideology to rule Colombia.
His plans to convert Colombia’s economy from fossil fuels to agriculture are likely to scare markets.
Gustavo Peter’s supporters celebrate his victory in Bogota. Photo: Perla Bayona / LongVisual / ZUMA Press Wire / Rex / Shutterstock
Despite fears of Peter’s victory, election day passed without violence or accusations of fraud, which surprised some in a country that has long had a reputation for political bloodshed.
“Today we celebrate Colombian democracy and their peaceful choice,” tweeted Brian A. Nichols, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, on Sunday. “We look forward to working closely with the Petro administration to promote mutual goals for the Colombian and American people.
Also high on Petro’s agenda will be the country’s fragile left-wing peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), signed in 2016 and officially ending five decades of civil war that killed more than 260 000 people and displaced more than 7 million.
The deal was unsuccessfully carried out by the outgoing government of President Ivan Duque, who was accused of deliberately delaying its introduction. Fark’s dissident factions that did not demobilize and other rebel groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN) continue to shake the province and profit from drug and racketeering operations.
“The candidate who promised the most and most detailed implementation of the 2016 peace agreement has been selected,” said Adam Isaacson, director of defense oversight at the Washington-based Latin American office in the US-based think tank. “A key element of Petro’s plan is to increase governance and basic services in the neglected province, where armed groups and coca continue to thrive, and this is a key commitment of the peace agreement. Much of his constituency is in these historical conflict areas, which voted for him by a large majority. “
Edinson Bolaños contributed to a report from Bogotá.
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