Colombia

It’s perhaps premature to talk of a ‘new dawn’ for socialism in Latin America – the continent has seen them before, but in Colombia the people have spoken, electing a left-wing government for the first time in the country’s history. On 20th June, Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla group, and mayor of Bogotá from 2012 to 2015, was declared president-elect after his ‘Historic Pact’ coalition – a progressive alliance of  groupings ranging from the social democratic ‘Polo Democrático’ to the Communist Party – scored a narrow but decisive victory in the election run-off over a brash right-wing businessman branded as ‘the Colombian Trump’, Rodolfo Hernández. Petro’s vice-presidential running-mate, social and environmental activist Francia Márquez, is the first A...

BY SONALI KOLHATKAR Gustavo Petro on election night in Colombia. Source: Democracy Now! For the first time ever, Colombia has chosen new leadership that is not conservative. Voters in the third-most populous nation in Latin America narrowly elected the former mayor of Bogotá, Gustavo Petro, in a runoff election against his conservative opponent Rodolfo Hernández, with 50.47 percent of the votes. Petro, who ran on a platform to tackle inequality, is a former rebel soldier who, at the age of 17 joined a now-defunct guerilla group called M-19 and was briefly imprisoned and tortured. His election is viewed as part of the ongoing “pink tide” in Latin America where a wave of left-leaning, but not-hardcore-communist leaders have succeeded in taking power through ...

BY W. T. WHITNEY Photograph Source: National Police of Colombia – CC BY-SA 2.0 The comment overflowed with enthusiasm: “June 19 will be remembered as a day of the people and will be a moment of celebration for democracy … Today was a day for changing history.” The reference was to the million-vote plurality achieved by Colombian presidential candidate Gustavo Petro and his vice-presidential running-mate Francia Márquez. The Historical Pact coalition they represent had gained 50.5 percent of the votes cast in a second round of elections. The loose-lipped, right-wing construction and real estate mogul Rodolfo Hernández, candidate of the recently-devised League of Anti-Corruption Governors Party, accounted for 47.2 percent. This was the third presidential campa...

Javier Guerrero Download PDF flyer Photo: Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez celebrate with supporters on election night. Credit – @FranciaMarquezM A wave of massive celebrations swept the streets and main squares of Colombia last night as news broke that the country had just elected its first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, and the first Black vice-president of the country, Francia Marquez. The Historic Pact coalition, Petro and Francia’s political movement, won this historic race by capturing 50.44% and beating out right-wing millionaire businessman Rodolfo Hernandez, who trailed by more than 700,000 votes. Petro and Francia’s victory confirms that the Colombian people have officially expressed their desire to close the curtain once and for all on the tragedy ...

Newly elected Colombian President Gustavo Petro, left, and his running mate, Francia Marquez, celebrate at the Movistar Arena in Bogota, on June 19, 2022, after winning the presidential runoff election on June 19, 2022. BY: Jake Johnson, Common Dreams Former guerrilla fighter and longtime lawmaker Gustavo Petro defeated a millionaire businessman viewed as Colombia’s Donald Trump on Sunday to become the South American nation’s first leftist president-elect, riding a wave of mass anger over inequality, poverty, and the corruption of the right-wing political establishment. “The government of hope has arrived,” Petro, a former member of the M-19 rebel organization that disarmed in 1990 and became an influential political party, told supporters gathered in Bogotá. “This stor...

BY W. T. WHITNEY Photograph Source: National Police of Colombia – CC BY-SA 2.0 During 212 years of Colombia’s national independence, the propertied and wealthy classes, with military backing, have held the reins of power. Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez, presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the Historical Pact coalition, scored a first-round victory in elections held on May 29. They are forerunners of a new kind of government for Colombia. If they prevail in second-round voting on June 19, they will head Colombia’s first ever people-centered government. Petro’s opponent will be the May 29 runner-up Rodolfo Hernández. The tallies were: Petro, 40.3 percent (8.333.338 votes); Hernández, 28.1 percent (5.815.377 votes); Federico Gutiérrez, 23.9 perc...

Javier Guerrero and Carlos Osorio Download PDF flyer Photo: Massive closing rally on May 22 for the Gustavo Petro/Francia Marquez ticket. Credit — @petrogustavo The progressive ticket of Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez of the Pacto Historico (Historic Pact) leftist alliance came in first in Sunday’s Colombian presidential election, capturing more than 40% of the vote. To the surprise of many and in contrast to most polls, Rodolfo Hernández, a right-wing millionaire running on an “anti-corruption” campaign came in second with just over 28% of the vote, beating out the his fellow right-winger Federico “Fico” Gutiérrez, the candidate favored by most in the ruling class establishment, including outgoing president Ivan Duque.  Although Petro came in first, he did no...

The months of April to July this year have been marked in Colombia by mass protests on the part of people who have simply had enough of being poor and subjected to violent repression when they live in a country so rich in natural resources. The protests were sparked by a government announcement of huge tax increases falling disproportionately on people barely able to survive on the income they receive. This announcement infuriated the masses of working people in Colombia, who had already been taking to the streets in protest against poverty before the pandemic but most of whom are now suffering from even lower living standards as a result of the pandemic lockdowns that have caused economic output in the region to fall by some 7% while unemployment has skyrocketed.Some 2.8 milli...

Declaration of support for the rebellion of the Colombian people promoted by the Liberation Party of Argentina and already signed by 46 progressive organisations from 26 different countries in Latin America, North America, Asia and Europe. The undersigned political parties and organisations express their full support for the popular rebellion in Colombia, initiated in November 2019 and resumed on April 28, against the same oligarchic and pro-imperialist government of Iván Duque. In the fifteen days that have elapsed since this higher stage of the Colombian resistance, an even greater reserve of militancy, heroism and conscience has been in evidence than before. That is why it has not proved possible to liquidate it notwithstanding high levels of repression by the National Police...