If Gustavo Petro is elected this Sunday (19), it will be the first time that Colombia has a left-wing president. Some factors explain why a name from this political spectrum has never led the country.
Even in the 19th century, historical clashes between liberals and conservatives, marked by wars and moments of pacts, set the tone for the groups that dominated Colombian politics. One of the rare occasions when they were not in power was during the regime of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (1953-1957), who took over with a military coup. Pinilla, however, had support from the liberals to overthrow the conservative Laureano Gómez.
After redemocratization, in 1958, liberals and conservatives made an alternation pact that lasted 16 years. During this period, in the 1960s, the guerrillas emerged, initiating a process of stigmatization of the left. From then on, figures linked to this political field became identified with the armed struggle and violence, which offered little space for the existence of a democratic left.
In the 1970s, the Colombian State began to face, in addition to the guerrillas, drug trafficking cartels, and proposals to end the conflicts began to be highlighted in presidential campaigns.
In the same decade, the M-19 guerrilla, which differed from the others, emerged. While the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the ELN (National Liberation Army) represented left-wing revolutionary thinking that wanted to seize power by force, the M-19 was an armed group with a strong nationalist ingredient that preached democracy. more inclusive.
One of the main acts of the M-19 was the takeover of the Palace of Justice in 1985, in which nearly 100 people were killed, including 33 terrorists and several judges. At the time, Petro, who was part of the guerrilla, was in prison. When he left, he was one of the peace negotiators, during the administration of the liberal Virgilio Barco.
Also in the 1980s, under the conservative government of Belisario Betancur, an agreement with the FARC created the left-wing União Patriótica (UP). The effort to pacify the country, however, ended in tragedy. More than 4,000 UP members were murdered, including two presidential candidates.
In 1989, liberal Luis Carlos Galán, who had progressive ideas and was campaigning for elections, was also killed. Upon being elected, his replacement, César Gaviria, convened the assembly that drafted the Constitution currently in force in Colombia. The enacted Charter strengthened the independence of the Powers.
Gaviria was succeeded by another liberal, Ernesto Samper, who gave his administration a progressive character, adopting a social-democratic model, but was accused of receiving funding from the Cali Cartel.
Conservatives returned to power in 1998 with Andrés Pastrana, who signed a military pact with the US, Plan Colombia, and failed in an attempt to strike a deal with the FARC. He was succeeded by Álvaro Uribe, a dissident liberal who created the Democratic Center, now in the presidency with Iván Duque.
Uribe faced the guerrillas and criminal factions, but under many controversies and denunciations. He is accused of being behind crimes that involve human rights violations, such as the “false positives” scandal, in which the military murdered civilians and dressed them as guerrillas, thus fulfilling goals established by the Armed Forces command in the fight against the FARC and to the ELN.
With high popularity, Uribe managed to get reelection approved in the country and was re-elected to office in 2006. This year, a new left-wing party emerged, the Alternative Democratic Pole, which began to make intense criticisms of uribismo. The legend, in this election, supports Petro’s candidacy.
Uribe appointed a successor, his former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos, another Liberal Party dissident — this time, to found the Social Party for National Unity. With the caption, he won in 2010, ruled for two terms, closed a peace agreement with the Farc and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The slice of the population opposed to the pact, however, elected the then senator Iván Duque, defeating in the second round, in 2018, precisely Petro, who could become the first left-wing president in the country.
