Mathematician and former mayor of Medellín Sergio Fajardo, 65, will contest the first round of the Colombian presidential election on May 29, based on the history of managing one of the most violent cities in Latin America, but which, through social reforms and urban planning, became a model in the region.
According to the most recent poll by the Centro Nacional de Consultoría, Fajardo is in third place, tied with outsider Rodolfo Hernández, both with 10% of voting intentions. Leftist Gustavo Petro leads the race with 36.5%, ahead of right-wing Federico “Fico” Gutiérrez, with 24.5%.
In the 2018 dispute, Fajardo, who spoke to sheet by videoconferencing, ranked third.
The border with Colombia is among the longest in Brazil, but it is largely a green border, marked by the Amazon region. How do you see the relationship between the two countries today and how it could be in an eventual government led by Mr? In Colombia there is no sense of competition with Brazil. But this border is, in general, in a very strategic area for our commitment to biodiversity and the defense of the planet in the face of climate change. However, Brazil’s policy on the issue today goes against what we want for the area. What is being done in Brazil in terms of deforestation and destruction causes us enormous damage and sadness.
So much so that the most preserved part of the forest is generally found on the Colombian side. Yes, and Colombia is aware of the richness of its biodiversity. The current government of Brazil does not act as if it has the same perception. Our proposal for economic development involves environmental development, which understands the Amazon region as a fundamental part of our country and the world. We have proposals in this area that are very different from those of the current government in Brazil. I do not believe that there is any cooperation possible between us and the current Brazilian government, and that is a tremendous pity. [O atual presidente da Colômbia, Iván] Duque has an ideological affinity with Bolsonaro, but we do not see cooperation policies between countries that are really important in the area of environmental preservation.
It is important that Colombia has a good relationship with Brazil, and we can interact in many ways in the world of rural development and sustainable agriculture. I have the feeling that in Brazil there needs to be a change of government, because Bolsonaro is destroying the Amazon and it is not compatible with what we want. We hope that there will be a change of government in Brazil.
One of the themes in the Colombian electoral campaign is the relationship with Venezuela, especially since there is a problem of violence on the border, between criminal groups, causing a lot of tension in the region. How will you handle the matter? I would continue to consider Juan Guaidó president of the country, for example? No, with me that of Guaidó, no. Among the things very poorly done in the Duque administration are foreign relations. Among them, the relationship with Venezuela, because Duque came to power with an aggressive stance towards that neighbor, which gave him electoral and political fruits, helped to build a speech of fear of what could happen in Colombia if the left won. I have never been and never will be a defender of what is happening in Venezuela, I am very critical of the Maduro regime, but international relations are not just for dialogue with your friends, but for resolving differences and discrepancies that we have.
My proposal is to establish channels of communication and start dealing with problems of the following nature: in Venezuela there are about 5 million Colombians, and at the moment all borders are closed to them. These people have a huge problem and they don’t have the attention of their country.
This is not to say that I recognize the Maduro government as legitimate, but the Guaidó theme is over. When he tried to bring humanitarian aid and a whole circus was made in Cúcuta, in 2019, he made no progress and it was a shame. Duque said that Maduro had his “days numbered” and check it out…
You supported the peace agreement signed during Juan Manuel Santos’ administration between the Colombian State and the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). Why is the progress of implementation of the agreement so slow and full of obstacles? We were in favor of the peace agreement from the first day of the negotiations. We support the treaty and believe in the need to implement it, not least because today it is a constitutional mandate, which any president who takes office must fulfill.
What happens is that this government won the elections confronting the peace agreement. Duque made some punctual, cosmetic advances, because philosophically he is against the agreement. With that, we lost four years in peacebuilding. Levels of insecurity increased, dissent was allowed, we had an increase in violence in a large number of areas due to the association of these dissent with organized crime, hundreds of murders of social leaders and ex-combatants.
This election has news. The left leading, a right not directly sponsored by Álvaro Uribe and other candidates growing and still with chances. How do you classify yourself ideologically in this scenery? As a center, but the center in Colombia is wide. I was mayor of Medellín, governor of Antioquia, and in both we made profound social transformations that embody Colombia’s social concerns. This is a country with deep inequalities, poverty and unemployment.
We recognize this social reality and we know that we have to transform it. We have liberal ideas with regard to the economy and individual freedoms, with a proposal to change the country’s productive development model. A development that recognizes the profoundly unequal country that we are and that protects the poorest and is more inclusive. I have a pragmatic spirit based on my previous administrations that can be applied across the country. I come from a political school of civic tradition, the same as Antanas Mockus [ex-prefeito de Bogotá]and which at the time was called the “green wave”, translated into an agenda strongly based on protecting the planet against climate change.
One of the symbols of his management in Medellín was the cable car system that connects the center to the poorest parts of the city. As this mechanism represents what you think for the whole parents? Cable cars were never just cable cars. With each cable car there was a way to engage society. There were squares, libraries, cultural centers, elements that invited communities to participate. This spirit of doing politics with the population is what I defend and which can be applied in the country in a broad way.
In 2018, there were few votes left for you to go to the second round. Its performance was very strong in large urban centers, but not so much in the countryside. Which missed? We are aware that we are stronger in urban regions, because that is our origin, but we also have to think that Colombia is an increasingly urban country, with almost 80% of the population living in cities.
But I was governor of Antioquia, a department that has a huge rural area, with the dimensions of a small Latin American country, with 6.5 million inhabitants. And there the basis of my government was rural. So the propaganda of my rivals who reaffirm that I am a “candidate of the capital” is wrong.
A good connection with the rural world is necessary because the disconnection between the rural and the urban was largely responsible for the war in Colombia. [referência ao conflito entre guerrilhas e Estado que existiu desde os anos 1960 até 2016]. Colombia has not advanced as it could and should have in recent decades due to the lack of integration of the rural world into the country’s progress and productive development. Combining these two worlds is one of our most important proposals.
Sergio Fajardo, 65
Born in Medellín in 1956, he holds a degree in mathematics from the Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá, with a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin (USA) and a postdoctoral degree from the Universidad Menéndez Pelayo, in Spain. He taught at the Universities of Los Andes and Monterrey (Mexico) until he abandoned teaching to devote himself to politics. He was mayor of Medellín (2004-2007) and governor of Antioquia (2012-2015).
