Colombia is preparing for a second round of elections. With 8.5 million votes in the first round, Gustavo Petro, the candidate of the Historic Pact, whose vice-presidential running mate is Francia Márquez, will face the right-wing option, represented by Rodolfo Hernández, who did not reach 6 million.
According to the report of the organization Voto Pacífico, in this region of the country there was a high rate of abstentionism. We spoke with the independent journalist Témoris Grecko, special correspondent of Global Exchange and Peninsula 360 Press, about the main causes of this phenomenon, as well as his perception of the atmosphere that exists a few hours before the second round.
What specific region are you located in?
We are visiting towns on the coast of the department of Cauca, in the Pacific region of Colombia.
How do you perceive the atmosphere? The report “The Vote Will Be Peaceful or It Will Not Be” denounces pressure from armed groups to prevent people from going to the polls. Have you seen people's fear?
People seem calm, but also a little worried. They are alert to what could happen; there was a motor bomb attack in Suárez, which is in another part of the Cauca department, and before that there was one in Corinto. It is known that there are armed groups that are upset, that could try to affect the elections, not so much because they are interested in the elections themselves, but because some of their leaders have been killed and also because it seems that a national channel published information infiltrating a reporter into an armed group. So, this annoyance could translate into some kind of violent act.
Are there displacements due to violence in the area where you are located?
Yes, there are a lot of people. It is normal for people here to talk about relatives or friends who are in other parts of the country, maybe from the department, maybe from the country, because they have been forced to leave their homes.
According to the aforementioned report, Petro was voted for massively in this region, with 1,962,391 votes in the four departments. Do you think people have hope for change? Do you see it as possible?
In fact, one of the tasks ahead of them is to ensure that those people who have been displaced, or some of those people, as they are still registered here, at least have the opportunity to come and vote, to exercise their right to vote.
How much did the Francia Márquez factor influence the above numbers?
In these Pacific regions, from what we have been able to see, most people are in favour of Petro; there is no propaganda for Rodolfo Hernández, only for Petro and Francia, and this in part has to do with Francia and the identification they feel with her. Although Petro has done some things in the past that have generated doubts in this sector of the population, Francia is a person they feel very close to and this consolidates their will to support her.
So yes, there is enormous hope; they have the idea that France and Petro will be able to create the conditions to end the violence, the armed conflict, and in this way they believe that their lives will improve a lot.
They have a history of promoting peace talks when [Juan Manuel] Santos governed and reaching agreements, and that for a moment led to a significant reduction in violence that allowed them to develop, move around and be more relaxed. Now with the government of [Iván] Duque, that ended and violence resurged, and that is why they feel more threatened when carrying out their activities and that inhibits them a lot.
So, they do have great hope, not only in the projects that they can carry out for economic and social development, but above all, in ending the violence so that they can live in peace.
This article was produced with the support of a group of journalists covering the second round of elections in Colombia, sponsored by the Global Exchange organization in collaboration with Península 360 Press.
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