by Sara Gandolfi, our correspondent in Pereira
Former guerrilla fighter, mayor, poll favorite. “The war on drugs isn’t working.” The country that has always been a close ally of the United States has never been so deserted
Gustavo Petro is not welcome in Pereira. “The armed gangs said they would kill me.” A week before the presidential elections in Colombia, the superfavorito announced that he would not hold rallies in the capital’s “eje cafetero”, the region where one of the best coffees in the world is produced. In the 1980s, the city on the central cordillera was the Switzerland of the narcos. In the rest of the country, the drug lords waged a bitter war, but Pereira was neutral territory and here they lived together peacefully. Today it is home to other smaller but no less dangerous mafias. Petro mentioned the alleged client – allegedly a local businessman – and aspiring enforcers, the Cordillera Gang, former paramilitaries involved in loan sharking, extortion and drug trafficking. He then brought up right-wing challenger Federico Gutiérrez, known as «Fico». He replied: “Here Petro is the only one who had connections to criminal structures”.
«These are the most dangerous presidential elections of our last six decades – assures Rodrigo Uprimny, professor of law at the National University -. If we do not want them to end in tragedy or democratic rupture, which seemed unthinkable in Colombia, it is necessary that some influential actors such as business people, media, academics, churches, the international community or trade unions unequivocally express their democratic stance bring commitment. , regardless of the election result”. But an unreal calm envelops Colombia. There is no talk of politics at the bar and only a few election posters, mostly banners, hanging from balconies can be seen on the street. Silence seems to be the best antidote to fear. Petro, former mayor of Bogotá and candidate for the Left’s Pacto Histórico, is ahead at the third attempt with over 45% of the preferences, which is not enough for him to win the first round on May 29. The former mayor of Medellín “Fico” , candidate for the right-wing coalition Equipo por Colombia, and the non-partisan center-right Rodolfo Hernández are battling for second place in the run-off election on June 19. Extreme polarization – like in neighboring Brazil in the fall elections – does not bode well in a country that after more than fifty years of civil war, which ended in 2016 with the treaty between the state and the Revolutionary Armed Forces on paper, still according to verse reconciliation seeks strength (farc).
Petro, a 62-year-old economist, must also be forgiven a past as a guerrilla. As a young man, he joined M-19, an “anti-imperialist” urban movement responsible for some of the most tragic episodes in Colombia’s turbulent history. He always stated that he never took part in armed actions, but for his opponents and for the United States his biography left an indelible stain.
During the election campaign, Petro repeated that he was not a communist, that he would not dispossess anyone and that he would rule “for everyone”. He avoided any public contact with the party of the former FARC guerrillas, which even offered him their (few) votes. However, his visceral language scares a majority of voters. “I’m a revolutionary,” he often recalls. And his programme, albeit very moderate compared to the positions of a few years ago, is a confirmation of this, starting with stopping the “War on Drugs” as it has been thought up until now. “After doing the same thing for 40 years, destroying coca plants with herbicides, capturing and handing over leaders, gringos are having more overdose deaths than before,” he told the weekly Semana. Today, Colombia exports more cocaine than ever. Here are the armies and the violence. The drug dealers, who are Mexican, are holding back the profits. You are more powerful than Pablo Escobar ». Petro announces an end to extraditions, the revision of the free trade agreement with the US, strong environmental protection, the resumption of relations with Venezuela and a female and black vice president, Francia Márquez.
Colombia has never turned left like this. So far it has been a staunch ally of the United States, which has repaid so much loyalty with billions of dollars in aid and arms. After years of right-wing governments, however, a large part of the population wants a change of power. It is the country with the greatest inequality in Latin America, one of the highest murder rates in the world (27 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants) and the repression of the demonstrations in 2019 and 2021, decided by President Iván Duque, left deep wounds in society and dozens of dead.
If Petro is elected – and after him Lula in Brazil – seven Latin American nations will have left-wing presidents. The leader of the Pacto Histórico likes to end his speeches with a positive sentence from a hundred years of solitude: “Under the heavens of the earth, generations have (no) second chances”. Finally, Colombia is still the one that gave us the magic pen of Gabriel García Márquez. Sweet and tragic, inviting and mysterious.
May 22, 2022 (Modification May 22, 2022 | 23:03)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED