Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M19 guerilla movement and mayor of Bogota, will become the first president of Colombia from a leftist party. In another historic first, Petro’s running mate, Francia Marquez, will be the first Afro-Colombian vice-president. Petro previously ran for president in 2010 and 2018, but failed to persuade voters who believed he was a radical left-wing outsider. This time around he has surrounded himself with more traditional politicians who could build bridges with the establishment. In April, he signed a pledge not to expropriate any private land if elected. He’s also tipped a moderate to be his economic minister, and has sought to make international ties with new progressives, such as the Congressional Progressive Caucus in the U.S. As president, Petro said he intends to renegotiate Colombia’s trade deals with the US and also plans to open dialogue around three main issues: protection for the Amazon rainforest; ending the war on drugs; and moving the Colombian economy away from fossil fuels. Colombia has been facing a worsening socioeconomic situation, including deteriorating living conditions, made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact of the war in Ukraine, leading to millions of young and poorer voters to look for someone different.
For more than two centuries, Colombia was considered a steady conservative country in Latin America. Even as leftist governments came and went across the region, a center-right political establishment remained in control, which is what made Colombia an important ally for the U.S. One area of policy differences with the U.S. is Venezuela. Petro does support recognizing Nicolas Maduro as the country’s president, something the White House is firmly against. However, Biden and Petro might still find common ground in areas such as environmental protections and the energy transition.
This election in Colombia continues to signal a frustration by voters in Latin America with center-right and right-wing politics. It happened in Peru, where voters last year elected Marxist schoolteacher Pedro Castillo. In Chile, the free-market model of the region, where 36-year-old former student activist Gabriel Boric became president. The same can be said in Bolivia and Argentina where the left returned to power following a brief period of right-leaning politicians. All eyes are now on Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, where former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva leads polls to unseat President Jair Bolsonaro in October. A victory for Lula would mean all of the largest countries in the region, including Mexico and Argentina, are led by leftist presidents.
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