Political consultant Amauri Chamorro seeks to adopt a low profile. His stance is partly linked to his personality, but for him, acting as a marketer for left-wing candidates in Latin American countries is more than a job: he considers himself a “soldier of the region’s second and definitive independence.”
Discretion, on the other hand, has to do with accusations made at the time he designed Rafael’s social media strategy. belt. The ex-president’s campaign, now exiled in Belgium, was the target of complaints that he had set up “troll centers”, a kind of virtual hate office intended to defame opponents and influence the narrative on the networks. Chamorro denies that he acted outside the law.
His role in the Colombian presidential campaign as a collaborator in the political consultancy of the leftist coalition Pacto Histórico, led by poll leader Gustavo Petro, was also discreet and informal. That was until Daniel Quintero, mayor of Medellín and a member of the alliance, was suspended from office by the Attorney General’s office, accused of carrying out political propaganda — something that the country’s electoral legislation prohibits.
Chamorro was called to help Quintero. He flew from Bogotá, where he has been working for the last few months, to Medellín and went up with the politician on stage, seeking to help with the damage containment operation and the campaign that the suspended mayor is doing to try to return to office. Then, his presence behind the scenes was discovered and he became the target of attention and attacks on the networks — he even occupied the trending topics (most commented subjects) on Colombian Twitter.
Chamorro is not part of Petro’s official communication and propaganda team, but as a political consultant for the Historic Pact candidates, he designed, among other things, the presidential candidate’s digital communication strategy.
The election will have its first round next Sunday (29). The most recent polls indicate a clear lead by leftist Petro (40.6%), followed by right-wing Federico “Fico” Gutiérrez (27.1%), former mayor of Medellín, and right-wing populist Rodolfo Hernández (20.9%). %). The third comes in an escalation, in which he has already run over centrist Sergio Fajardo in voting intentions and has just received the support of Ingrid Betancourt, who withdrew from the campaign. If there is a second round, it will take place on June 19.
After working with the Ecuadorian Rafael Correa, Chamorro participated in the campaigns of Pedro Castillo in Peru, Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, Evo Morales and Luis Arce in Bolivia, Sanchez Cerén in El Salvador and, more recently, Andrés Arauz, sponsored by Correa defeated in Ecuador’s latest election.
He also advises representatives, analyzing the political situation. “It is very hard for me to be exposed as someone who collaborates with the left because there is a great stigma about this field. I have already received several threats, even a wreath has been delivered to my house”, he tells the Sheetby telephone, from Medellin.
The son of leftist militants, Chamorro was born in Quito in 1978. His mother, who is Brazilian, had gone into exile because of the military dictatorship and met her Ecuadorian husband there. The family later moved to Brazil, and the consultant grew up in Mooca, a neighborhood on the east side of São Paulo, to later study journalism at Universidade Anhembi Morumbi and go to Spain to pursue a postgraduate degree in strategic communication.
For Chamorro, it is wrong to say that Colombia is a conservative country and that, therefore, it has never had a left-wing president. “The democratic left was unable to break with the elite’s power structures. When the Patriotic Union party was founded, with former guerrillas who pledged to demobilize the armed struggle, they were practically all exterminated. [houve mais de 4.000 assassinatos]”, it says.
“After that, the left carried a certain stigma from its relationship with the guerrillas, but it is important to remember that the more democratic left, which emerged with the Liberal Party, was also persecuted.” Luis Carlos Galán was of this legend, killed at a rally when he was running for president in 1989. Chamorro adds the murder of Jorge Eliecér Gaitán, in 1948, to the heavy blows to progressive forces. “And only now, in 2022, do we have a left-wing candidate with a chance of winning.”
But he ponders that even in this scenario, social achievements were registered that are dear to this field. “There is both progressive thinking rooted in Colombia that advances in civil rights are possible, as well as the issue of euthanasia,” he says. The country also recently decriminalized abortion.
Chamorro believes that there is less common ground between the so-called “new left”, which has been winning elections in countries in the region, and the wave that ruled in the years 2000-2010. “There are contradictions in postures and commitments”, he points out, recalling that some leaders today seek to distance themselves from the regimes of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, “which had to adopt contradictory postures to come to power”.
According to him, there are still differences in origin. “[O chileno Gabriel] Boric comes from a not very internationalized student left, while Arce and [o argentino Alberto] Fernández are former employees of previous administrations and have more experience, although they have yet to assert their image, unlike Lula — who, if he wins, is someone everyone knows,” he says.
“What unites these lefts is the confrontation with this fascist obscurantism that exists today in several countries.”
For him, the communication of the left in the elections has been wrong by focusing only on social networks. “It’s time to ditch Twitter and get back on the streets. It’s the strength of this field.”
