Elections in Colombia: Gustavo Petro, a hope for change or the danger of becoming Venezuela?

On Sunday, May 29, Colombians will elect their next president. Since the last presidential election in 2018, the left has been successful, especially with candidate Gustavo Petro.

This is followed by Colombian youth, who are demanding change and improvement of living conditions in the country. But the country is divided between enthusiasm for change and historical fear of the left.

In Colombia, governments with majority rights or extreme rights have succeeded each other for decades, but this year things could change if Petro wins.

When Colombians are asked about the upcoming elections, different answers are obtained. And that’s it the popularity of the left the polls do not leave the population indifferent.

Juan Toro, for example, is 33 years old, is a company manager and is a bit confused: “I think there are too many people involved, like a new candidate comes out of nowhere, there are a lot of opportunists, many people wanting attention. And ultimately it ends up shifting general attention and confusing ”, he said.

“Gustavo Petro has been looking for the presidency for a few years now. I think people are tired of following the same leaders and want change, any change. So I think Gustavo Petro knows if how to use this tool and insisted on his ideas “, he added.

“A Second Venezuela”

María Peláez Álvarez, 60, has already chosen her candidate, and it is not the one on the left: “Until now, I want Colombian president Sergio Fajardo. I am from the Hope Center. We must think carefully about who we will elect as president ”, he affirms.

The situation in Venezuela frightens him: “If we don’t know, as Colombians, we could be second Venezuela.”

Her neighbor, Alicia Echeverri, admitted she wasn’t sure to vote because “someone sees a lot of theft, a lot of promises not being kept,” and because she also fears “live a complete Venezuela” if it becomes Petro. president.

“That’s why a person becomes distrustful, very distrustful, and not encouraging voting,” he emphasizes.

desire for change

So far, Petro remains a favorite in the polls in the first and second rounds of the presidential election. Youth support is one of its strengths. In fact, they have been marching the streets for months calling for change.

Last year, Colombia lived to the rhythm of demonstrations and roadblocks. There is unparalleled social discontent, as a result of several reform projects by President Ivan Duque’s government.

Among the protesters were many young people, boys who created their own fight song inspired by the country’s national anthem and the music of the Star Wars movie.

At the origin of this movement, young musicians and an orchestra director from Medellín, Susana Boreal, participated.

“First, the national anthem of Colombia was produced but in a small key, and also mixed with the imperial march of Star Wars. Stormtroopers We compare them to the agents of ESMAD (Mobile Anti-riot Squads), because that force is commanded by the State, this is the way they have to force themselves through violence, ”Susana explained.

More than 400 musicians performed this song, which was released nationwide and went viral on social networks. For Susana and her colleagues, it was about saying “No to repression in Colombia” and “Yes to change.”

“We live in a very complicated situation in that country, where it is very difficult to live. What is needed? Just to have guarantees to have and live dignified, under equal conditions, and end that gap of social injustice which is very widespread in our country. Because there are people who are very privileged, but only a few ”, the girl criticized.

mobilized youth

So this year, Susana will vote on the left, for candidate Gustavo Petro: “If you listen to the presidential debates, the speeches of all the candidates, you realize that Gustavo Petro is in the minds of the country, I want say, it’s really in his head, ”he said.

“We have known him ever since, he was also a presidential candidate in 2018, he was mayor of Bogotá, and given the state of the country today, we need something completely different to what governs us within 200 years. So I believe a lot in Gustavo Petro, I believe he can be a very important person to start the process of changing that country ”, he added.

Like Susana, thousands of young people will vote for this candidate. In the last election of 2018 –in which he reached the ballot but lost to Iván Duque-, they walked beside him at every meeting and mobilized social networks in his favor. Today political debates continue in all major cities.

At the Historical Pact Party headquarters, the teams well understood the importance of the youth, and the leftist political coalition relied on them to win.

“We have three million new young voters in Colombia, but young people are also the heart, as happened in Chile, of a great social movement against a regime that governs badly, that destroys peace,” Roy said. Barreras, leader of parliamentary debates and party representative.

“I signed the Peace Agreement five years ago on behalf of the Colombian State, and now what we have is a return to violence. But in addition (there are) some tax regulations that have given resources to the country’s big rich and “That was not allowed. The economy will be reactivated from peace. The youth have knocked down that reform, and the youth have a huge potential for change that will be the Agreement,” he added.

According to him, there is no way Petro will be defeated in this year’s presidential election: “We have only two possibilities of not winning: that they are killing the candidate, which happened in Colombia, because here there is a dark force of drug pushing and paramilitarism. who wants to kill Gustavo Petro, or make us crooks.This is the first time in 200 years that Colombia can have a democratic left government accompanied by a central coalition, and I believe that this time it is it will happen, ”he said.

Barreras is trying to allay fears on the left: “We want to convey calm: the Historical Pact government will be a stable, balanced government, with a serious economy.”

But that doesn’t mean the game is won. Because the past of the favorite candidate in the polls is heavy on debates. Former mayor of Bogotá, also He was a fighter in the M19 movement, a Colombian guerrilla who participated in armed conflict in the 1970s.

weaken to the right

According to French professor and political scientist Yann Basset, who has taught Political Science for more than 15 years in Colombia, at the moment, despite criticisms and his history, Petro is the favorite rather because the right has weakened .

“Historically, Colombia was not a right-wing country. There was a grand center coalition system, the National Front of the 50s and 60s of the last century … An agreement in which the two major parties, the Liberal and the Conservative, agreed government.The right emerged later, at the beginning of this century, as a kind of reaction to armed conflict, which was too long.And it was hegemonic in the first decade of the 21st century and dominant in the ensuing decades ”, explains

“But after the administration of Ivan Duque, who is now really unpopular, one has the impression that this right is being violated. And there appears to be the opening for leftist candidate Petro, who lost in the second round of 2018, so I, this time, try to win ”, said Basset.

The other criticism that opponents regularly bring up is the risk of Colombia experiencing a crisis as in Venezuela.

Yann Basset sees this as a political strategy to discredit the left: “This is a campaign argument with real basis. The Venezuelan system is a real disaster and it causes a lot of fear, ”he said.

“It is true that all Colombian leftists maintain relations with Chavismo. Today, Chavismo is a phenomenon that is very typical of Venezuela and it is very difficult for it to repeat in completely identical terms abroad. Petro is very different and above all the institutional context is really very different.He has very different and more moderate background measures.But it is true that he has a style that evokes fear, which appears to be somewhat authoritarian, very personal, and that’s why he’s compared to Chavez, ”he argues.

The final decision will be made by Colombians in the polls on May 29. The high abstention of previous elections will no doubt be decisive. Young people seem to be carefully following the situation and participating in the vote.

Source: RFI

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