After forty years of struggle, first in arms, then in democracy, a bespectacled revolutionary who survived torture and exile changed Colombian history. Gustavo Petro was elected the country’s first left-wing president at the age of 62.
In his third attempt to reach the presidency, Petro defeated the elite he always questioned and 77-year-old millionaire Rodolfo Hernández, who debated the banner of change with him in the final part of the election.
Shortsighted since childhood, Petro describes himself as a “stubborn revolutionary”.
Born into a middle-class family to a conservative father and liberal mother, he was educated by Lasalian priests and trained as an economist.
A gifted speaker, in his political life he has always raised the flags of change and breaking with the powers that have traditionally ruled Colombia.
His rise has frightened conservative sectors, farmers and parts of the business and military, who fear his government is a “leap into the void” or a leftist that will lead the country to failed socialism.
Others, more moderate, do not engage in their messianicism. Speaking to the independent portal La Silla Vacía, a close source summed up that “he thinks that the only person who can save Colombia is his destiny (…)”.
During the campaign, Petro presented himself as a progressive rather than a leftist, to avoid being associated with a trend that caused rejection in a country where Marxist guerrillas were at the center of six decades of armed conflict.
However, his past in the armed struggle does not leave him behind. For 12 years he rebelled against the state, which he now wanted to radically reform. Official weapons protect it today.
Threatened with death several times and forced into three years of exile in Europe, Petro had to arm himself with a bulletproof vest, shields and at least 20 bodyguards on the platform for his election speeches.
Petro, who is married to Verónica Alcocer and has six children, admitted his fear of being killed in an interview with AFP in February.
moderate
Petro was a member of the M-19, an urban nationalist guerrilla that signed the peace in 1990. An ardent admirer of Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez in hiding, he took the name Aureliano in honor of the character in the movie “One.” One Hundred Years of Solitude”.
He was detained and tortured by the army and imprisoned for a year and a half. According to his former comrades, he was always a “mediocre” fighter.
In his biography, he emphasizes: “Unlike many of my friends, I never felt a military duty (…) what I wanted was to make a revolution”.
He argues that his “preferential option for the poor” comes not from Marxism but from liberation theology.
The Historic Pact candidate endorses the defense of the environment. It proposes to halt oil exploration in the “transition” to clean energy (whose trade represents 4% of GDP).
Petro wants to strengthen the state and collect more taxes from the rich. Before the second round, she showed herself as a moderate politician, close to the public and feminism.
“When I went out on a platform and talked for an hour and a half (…), I was going into details about its economic model (…) and it gets a little complicated,” admits Alfonso Prada, director of leftist debates.
Faced with the fears he aroused, Peter vowed not to seek reelection through constitutional reform or personal vengeance and to respect private property.
I also emphasize that I have never and will never think of confiscating or belittling assets,” he said.
His daughter Sofía reassures him that Petro is a “man in deconstruction.”
hasty
The government program also proposes reforming the police force involved in human rights abuses and regulating promotions within the Military Forces, which it sees as classist. Petro will be the first ex-guerrilla to swear allegiance to the troops.
After signing the peace, Petro came to Congress in 1991, then to the mayor of Bogota in 2012-2015.
As a parliamentarian, he rose to prominence for exposing links between politicians and far-right paramilitaries, but as a mayor, he later gained a reputation as an authoritarian and bad ruler in the hands of private individuals, due to his chaotic plan to nationalize garbage collection.
Daniel García-Peña, who was Peter’s adviser at the time and distanced himself from him for his “despotism”, still remembers “the difficulties of working as a team”, despite being aware of his knowledge and intelligence of the country.
“He has a very impetuous and authoritarian disposition, and when he insisted on implementing his proposals (…), he didn’t know how to reconcile the different sectors and put them into practice. He got into many fights at the same time, and that’s a lot of disappointment in the goals he had set himself,” the University professor told AFP. created.”
Speaking to AFP without introducing himself, a source close to the president argued that the moderate Petro had gained “a certain maturity” and is now “a calmer, calmer person”.
source: Noticias
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