Colombia elects Gustavo Petro as its first leftist president


The ex-guerrilla Gustavo Petrowho promises ambitious social and economic changes, won the presidency of Colombiabecoming the first leftist to reach the first popularly elected position in a historically conservative country governed by right-wing and center-right leaders.

The leftist candidate Historical Pacta 62-year-old economist who was a senator, mayor of Bogota and belonged to the demobilized M-19 guerrilla, obtained 50.4% of the votes, beating construction businessman Rodolfo Hernández, who reached 47.2%, with 99.25% of the polling stations counted by the electoral authority.

Petro proposes economic and social reforms to combat poverty, inequality and exclusion that captivated millions of poor people, although they arouse fear among businessmen and financial markets.

“Finally, thank you, my God. I know he is going to be a good president and he is going to help the least favored, this is going to change for the better,” said Alejandro Forero, a 40-year-old disabled and unemployed man, as he wept in his wheelchair in a Bogota coliseum where Petro’s supporters gathered.

During the campaign, the president-elect promised to start a peace negotiation with the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), to implement the 2016 peace agreement with the demobilized FARC guerrilla, including the dissidents that returned to the armed struggle, and to seek the submission of the criminal gangs involved in drug trafficking.

The country is still immersed in an internal conflict of almost six decades that has left 260,000 dead, despite the peace agreement that allowed 13,000 members of the FARC they will lay down their arms, reintegrate into civilian life and form a political party.

However, Petro will have to seek alliances in Congress to promote the economic and social reforms to which he committed himself, because he does not have a majority despite the good vote that the left achieved in the legislative elections in March.

“Today I voted for my daughter, two weeks ago I celebrated her 15th birthday and she only asked me for a gift, to vote for Petrobecause she couldn’t. I never vote, but it is the gift for the woman that gives me the strength to get up every day to fight,” Pedro Vargas, a 48-year-old security guard, told Reuters.

“I hope this man fulfills the expectations of my daughter, who has great faith in his promises,” added Vargas, who voted at a polling station in western Bogotá.

President after two failed attempts

The election of Petro, after two failed attempts, adds Colombia -with 50 million inhabitants- to other Latin American countries, such as Chile, Mexico and Peru, in which leftist leaders govern.

“We are one step away from achieving the real change that we have waited for all our lives,” Petro said on his Twitter account before the elections. “There are no doubts, only certainties. We are going to make history.”

The defeated Hernández promised to cut state spending, fight corruption to obtain the necessary resources to finance his economic and social programs, as well as a plan to deliver free drugs to addicts and discourage drug trafficking.

The controversial 77-year-old millionaire who made his fortune in the construction sector faces an investigation for allegedly intervening in the award of a garbage management contract while he was mayor of the city of Bucaramanga.

Although the contract was not signed, it sought to benefit a company and one of his sons who would have lobbied in favor of the company, according to witnesses.

The businessman, alien to traditional political parties and who became famous for his appearances on the network TikTokdenies the accusations.

Some 300,000 members of the Armed Forces and the National Police monitored the elections and protected more than 12,500 polling stations to counter possible attacks by illegal armed groups.

Defense Minister Diego Molano said that an investigation was launched to clarify the murder of an electoral witness in the municipality of Guapi, in the department of Cauca, in the southwest of the country.

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