Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Gustavo Petro, the leftist candidate who achieved the unthinkable in Colombia

Gustavo Petro
Photo: National Registry of Civil Status

With a percentage of 40.32 percent of votes, Gustavo PetroThe leftist candidate of Pacto Histórico is going to a second round of voting in the Colombian elections where he will compete for the presidency against his counterpart Rodolfo Hernández of the Liga Anticorrupción party.

With proposals focused on security, Gustavo Petro seeks to advance to the presidency in order to put an end to the armed conflict. 

It also has educational proposals that consist of guaranteeing young people access to free, quality public education at the technological and university levels, as well as freeing all users of the ICETEX educational loan system from debt.

Among the reforms he proposes is that women should occupy at least 50 percent of all public positions at all levels and branches of power. 

In the area of the environment, he says, he will seek the gradual dismantling of the extractivist model, as well as accelerating the generation of renewable energies (wind and solar), and promoting an American front to fight climate change, which includes rescuing the Amazon rainforest by obtaining dividends for carbon absorption.

At the economic level, he highlights the redistribution of pension funds and the granting of pensions to the three million people who do not have one.

It is worth mentioning that if Gustavo Petro wins, he would be the first progressive left-wing president in the country.

The 10 things you need to know about Gustavo Petro.

Gustavo Petro was born in 1960 in Ciénaga de Oro, Córdoba, in northern Colombia and with more than 8.5 million votes on Sunday, May 29, he is the official candidate of the left that will compete in the second round for the Presidency of Colombia. 

He is the leader and candidate of the political coalition Pacto Histórico, a Colombian electoral coalition of left and center-left parties founded on February 11, 2021. 

An economist by profession, he has previously been mayor of Bogotá (2012-2016) and senator of the Republic for the 2018-2022 legislative period.

He is currently in his third attempt to reach the most important position in Colombia.

In the 1980s he was part of a guerrilla group that generated one of the worst tragedies in the history of the country during the seizure of the Palace of Justice, for which he spent two years in prison; within the guerrilla movement he operated under the alias of "Aureliano".

In his own words, his proposal consists of "turning the economy around life" and betting on natural wealth and environmental protection.

In "deepening democracy" and creating an economic structure "based on production and not on extraction".

7.- He has been the most voted candidate in the first round with 40 percent of the votes, as anticipated by the polls.

8.- He has approached the LGBT community, at the same time that the green agenda is an ace up his sleeve.

9.- The candidate for Vice President is Francia Elena Márquez Minawith whom Gustavo Petro works. She is a lawyer, social leader, environmental rights activist and human rights defender.

10.- During his first two attempts to come to power, in 2010 he achieved 1.3 million votes while in 2018 he reached eight million. 

You may be interested in: Rodolfo Hernandez, the candidate who took Colombia's elections by surprise

Peninsula 360 Press
Peninsula 360 Presshttps://peninsula360press.com
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