As he took the stage at the Hotel Tequendama in Bogotá, Senator Gustavo Petro seemed sure of himself.
Jean Luc Melenchon reminded us when he took the stage to celebrate the excellent performance that almost took him to the second round of the French presidential elections.
From there, “France Insoumise” became the center of gravity of the new left-wing coalition called Nova União Popular, Ecológica e Social. It is now up to the Historic Pact to play a convening role, but with its vision focused on the center.
In his victory speech, Petro gave several messages that went in the direction of summoning a broader social pact, conjugating two key terms: “social justice” and “stability”.
Thus, the candidate outlined a proposal for inclusive social investment, based on a redistributive tax policy, which improves the living conditions of the most vulnerable and, at the same time, contributes to the stability and economic prosperity of the country and society as a whole. .
Norberto Bobbio, in “Right and Left”, addresses the still persistent discussion about the right and left in politics and introduces the concept of the “inclusive third”. He describes it as an alternative that goes “beyond the two opposites [direita e esquerda]encompassing them in a superior synthesis”.
In a polarized Colombia, this “inclusive third party” can and should be Petro.
There are not a few analysts who consider that two “anti-system” candidates won, which conspires against the idea of Petro being seen as an articulating actor. Although he is a “non-traditional” actor, he knows and has experience in handling the Colombian political “system”.
The fact that it was a constituent and its consequent attachment to the 1991 Constitution give a strong sign of its commitment to the country’s institutional framework.
Petro was a senator, councilor and mayor of the capital. In addition, his political party, the Historic Pact, will have an important bench in the next legislature.
In other words, its “inclusive third party” discourse is complemented by knowledge, experience and political weight in order to transform alternatives into political consensus.
This profoundly differentiates him from his opponent, who has neither speech, nor political presence, nor experience, nor knowledge.
There are, however, certain challenges.
The Historic Pact was built with a strong foundation in social movements. These form the platform that ultimately sustains it. Therefore, his call for social justice cannot be overlooked or questioned by his followers.
Let us not forget that one of the meanings of the Petro phenomenon as an alternative is the displacement of security as a central issue, a mark of uribismo, for the prioritization of social inclusion, especially for young people, as a legacy of social protests.
But such a shift has no reason to be in conflict with the country of the private sector, the market and entrepreneurship.
In theory, this challenge shouldn’t be so difficult to overcome if it weren’t for confusion, prejudice and bad intentions.
The point is to insist that Petro does not represent a “radical left”. It is the political-social context of the country and the region that makes it “radical”.
As the candidate said in several interviews, in a context like the European one, it is likely that his proposals will be framed within the social democratic arc or even a type of progressive liberalism. And in this sense, he repeated several times that he will not “expropriate”.
Contrary to the failed attempts of the center coalition, which tried to attract the left and the right to a new proposal, it is Petro’s turn to pull the center and the right towards a more complete understanding of the challenges that the country faces, from a progressive perspective.
The question is to dismantle a state of denial, in which sectors favored by traditional political forces do not internalize the fact that Colombia must reduce inequality levels, that it cannot follow the same extractive model and that it cannot continue to ignore its plurality. .
Build a country without invisible sectors of the population, “the nobodies”, as vice-presidential candidate Francia Márquez called them.
Without a doubt, the most obvious and immediate challenge Petro has is that he faces a different opponent.
Estava preparado para competir com “Duque 2”, mas surgiu uma versão colombiana de Bolsonaro-Trump, que se deslocou do Facebook e do Twitter para o TikTok e que tem dois adereços muito conhecidos na região, o discurso anticorrupção e antipolítica.
The first is highly relevant and undoubtedly a priority for change. The second is more complicated.
Petro managed to capture the ire of the people with respect to political elites, and part of its success lies in its ability to occupy this differentiating space.
The right will try to take away this position, opting for the candidate of the so-called “right populism” that sells the illusion of change.
The central factor will be communication and, from a rational point of view, the candidate Rodolfo Hernández is effectively a “leap into the void”.
However, uribismo, traditional parties and sectors of the business community will support him, even knowing that he will endanger democratic institutions.
In this short space of time, Petro must continue to insist that it is he who represents the real change and that he offers a real commitment to institutionality, highlighting his experience in managing the system.
But accompanied by an ingenious and spicy communication strategy on the networks to upset the Colombian Trump.
