Elections in Colombia: a magazine presented Gustavo Petro as a “former guerrilla” and the candidate responded

Less than 24 hours before the start of a tight and historic run-off in Colombia to define the new president, the electoral campaign remains hot. The cover of the latest issue of the well-known Semana magazine refers to the electoral contest whose protagonists are Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernandezand has sparked enormous controversy since it describes the former as “former guerrilla” and the second as “engineer”.

On this Saturday morning, the cover image became a trend on social networks due to the adjective they decided to use for Petro. “Former guerrilla or engineer?” is the question they asked in their paper version, alluding to the two options that Colombians will find.

Indeed, it was the editor of the magazine, Vicky Dávilawho shared the cover on his Twitter account, where he mentioned the confrontation they made in the media: “Former guerrilla or engineer? Colombia chooses its new president between Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernández, who is who?” wrote the reporter in her profile.

Responses and criticisms were not long in coming. In fact, it was the center-left candidate himself who came to meet him in a short and decisive way: “I inform you that I am an economistPetro said, quoting the reporter’s message.

But that’s not all, since the senator used his networks again to share on his profile an edited photo of the same magazine made by a user in which he “plays” with the same cover, but changes the words: “Economist or defendant? “, alluding to the trial that Hernández will have to face in the case known as vitalelogyaccused of his alleged responsibility in deal with the award of a contract millionaire you are involved in his sonwhen he was mayor of Bucaramanga.

The criticism of the magazine reached Wikipedia, where a user maliciously changed the text in the publication in the weekly: “Semana It is a Colombian disinformation medium weekly publication on current political and economic issues in Colombia and around the world, “one could read.

The cover of Semana magazine is known a few hours after election day in which the name of the next President of the Republic is defined and whose polls mark a possible technical draw.

aggressive campaign

Linked in their intention to vote, Petro (62) and Hernández (77) will dispute the succession of the unpopular Iván Duque in this Sunday’s ballot.

On May 29, the senator and former guerrilla it was imposed with 40% of the support against 28% of the tycoon construction, but the measures anticipate a “final vote”.

The two candidates got entangled in a dirty and aggressive countryside. The electorate has already expressed its boredom and will now decide whether to take office for the first time left in power or again eccentric without party which promises to ban corruption.

Petro and Hernández embody the popular desire for change and the punishment of the elites who have historically ruled this country with an armed conflict that lasted six decades, the largest cocaine production in the world and a polarized society that has been impoverished by the pandemic.

Petro is an economist who gives third time competing for the presidency. He took up arms against the state and signed the peace in 1990. He later distinguished himself as an opposition deputy and became mayor of Bogotá (2012-2015), where he won the opponents for his “authoritarian” style.

His rival is an engineer who made his fortune as a builder and usurer. He was mayor of Bucaramanga (2016-2019), a city of 600,000 inhabitants where he is very popular for his self-esteem, austerity and for cleaning up public finances. in this campaign landed as a millionaire outsidervery active on TikTok, which surprisingly removed the right to the ballot.

DB