The left and centreleft united for the first time, allowing Petro, running for the presidency for the third time, to reach the presidential palace.
According to analysts, the unprecedented defeat of the right in the country marks a political shift in Colombia that began with the protests of 2019 and 2020.
The other candidate, contractor Rodolfo Hernández of the Governors’ AntiCorruption League, received 47.3% of the vote.
2 of 4 Petro becomes the country’s first leftist president. — Photo: Mauricio Duenas Castaneda via BBC
Petro becomes the country’s first leftist president. — Photo: Mauricio Duenas Castaneda via BBC
In his victory speech, the Presidentelect confirmed his proposal to reach a national agreement with the country’s various political lines, including the extreme right.
Petro invited Hernández constituents to visit him at the presidency dubbed “Casa de Nariño” (read Casa de Narinho).
“Making peace in Colombia means welcoming Hernández’s more than 10 million voters. We will not work to destroy the opposition. Everyone will be ‘welcome’ to the dialogue at the Presidential Palace,” Petro said.
His voters responded with “No to the war”.
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He understands that only through “dialogue, love and without hatred and revenge” will it be possible to carry out the necessary reforms so that the country becomes more egalitarian and also includes indigenous people, Afrodescendants (like his vicepresident Francia Márquez) and the victims of violence were and are.
Colombian professor of public and international politics at Columbia University in the United States, José Antonio Ocampo, believes that this “national agreement” is crucial.
“We hope and must support the national agreement (that Petro has proposed).
Agrarian reform and no oil
Petro plans to implement land reform, slow oil and coal production, and expand clean energy.
His ideas have the support of his followers, but also the rejection of the business (and oil) sector, which links his initiatives “to the left handbook of the 1970s,” as one of them put it.
Colombia is not, like its neighbor Venezuela, an oil country, as Jorge Restrepo, an economics professor at Javeriana University in Bogotá, has observed, but is, according to the analyst, “dependent” on the financial resources generated by the extraction of fossil fuels become fuel. .
This promises to be one of the big debates in Colombia in the PetroFrancia era, one that is already being closely followed by investors and financial markets.
The president has also told them that the changes will be made through dialogue and will “not expropriate companies” and “respect the constitution.”
However, Petro has said that he is not leftwing but that his politics are “politics of life”. Some sectors define him as a centreleft or “21st century social democrat”. He says he is a capitalist but with an awareness of the importance of caring for the environment and the effects of climate.
For critics and opponents, Petro’s challenge will be to show that his guerrilla life is long gone when he was young in the 1980s.
3 of 4 Gustavo Petro voter celebrates election with flag of guerrilla group M19. — Photo: Pablo Rodriguez via BBC
Gustavo Petro’s voter celebrates the election with the flag of the guerrilla group M19. — Photo: Pablo Rodriguez via BBC
Two days before the second round of the presidential elections, the traditional Bogotá magazine Semana published on its front page: “Exguerrilla or engineer?”, referring to the voters’ choice between Petro and the civil engineer Hernández.
The Presidentelect responded to the cover by saying, “Let me remind you that I’m an economist.”
A guerrilla fighter from Group M19, he was arrested and tortured when he was just over twenty years old. At that time he used the pseudonym “Aurelian”, inspired by one of the characters from the book One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.
In 2016, Petro backed the peace deal that resulted in much of the guerrillas surrendering their arms after 50 years of conflict.
But despite his political career as Bogotá mayor and senator, and his degree in economics with a focus on environment and business administration, his opponents and critics continue to emphasize his time in the guerrilla.
One of the biggest challenges for the new president will be the negotiations he will have to conduct in the National Congress to implement the changes he is planning. Voter expectations are high, analysts note. Another will deal with crime and police violence. In his victory speech, a mother appeared next to him on the podium with a photo of a dead little son.
4 of 4 Francia Márquez is the first Afro descendant to become the country’s vice president. — Photo: Vannessa Jimenez via BBC
Francia Márquez is the first Afro descendant to become the country’s vice president. — Photo: Vannessa Jimenez via BBC
Colombia, like Brazil, was a port of intense disembarkation of enslaved people. Petro said that black people (about 10% of the country), indigenous people (different communities) and the poorest will receive special attention in their management.
In her victory speech, Vice Presidentelect Francia Márquez, the first Afro descendant to the post, emphasized the new government’s inclusion motto and said that after 214 years, Colombia will have a government focused on the “invisible”.
The country’s current unemployment rate is 12%. The economic and social situation includes the growing concerns of Colombians about inflation. Annual inflation stood at 1.8% up until April last year. In April this year, the index was almost 10%.
Rising prices are among the top concerns for Latin Americans after the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But even before the pandemic, like the ones that took place in Chile, Ecuador and other countries in the region, Colombia saw waves of protests that highlighted the discontent of Colombians.
Dissatisfaction, reflected in the polls, with the exclusion of the traditional rightwing and centerright parties that have ruled the country for decades from the second round.
Managing this economic legacy bequeathed by current rightwing President Iván Duque will be another major challenge for Petro.
Internationally, Petro is expected to resume diplomatic relations between Colombia and Venezuela the other candidates had promised the same. Colombia is one of the main countries of arrival for Venezuelans and both countries have historically had a strong flow of trade.
In terms of foreign policy, Petro has already announced that he is aiming for a different relationship with the USA, with which Colombia has a free trade agreement and has shared its antidrug policy for years.
Petro announced that he intends to include the environment on the agenda of relations with the United States.
For him, the Amazon (also Colombian) is a regional issue, as is the need for a common policy on climate change.
Colombia’s Presidentelect believes Colombians should emphasize that they are Latin American and build relationships with their neighbors.
But one analyst pointed out that in Colombia, the more advantaged classes have always been more connected to the United States and that this is a relationship that should not be changed. Another challenge for Petro, Francia and their team.
“This text was originally published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional61842345”.