Colombia’s left-wing presidential candidate, Gustavo Petro, pledged on Monday to sign a document in front of a notary in front of the cameras, refraining from any nationalization, in an effort to reassure markets and the accusations of his main opponent and his critics.
The senator, once a rebel, signed a document yesterday in a notary office in the capital guaranteeing that the right to private property will be respected if elected president, either in the first round, on May 29, or in the second, in mid-June.
Accompanied by his vice-presidential candidate, environmentalist Francia Marquez, Mr. Petros promised that the “wealth and goods” of Colombians would not be confiscated if he became head of state.
Despite this gesture, however, experts pointed out that the document is not binding, nor does it rule out the possibility of actually deciding on nationalizations, something that the Constitution allows if they serve the public interest and are accompanied by the payment of compensation.
The dominant winner of the presidential election, the 61-year-old senator, has shaken economic agents, markets and part of the electorate, promising ambitious economic reforms in a country that has experienced almost exclusively economically liberal and politically and socially conservative governments.
For right-wing candidate Federico Gutierrez, his opponent is an “authoritarian populist” who favors nationalization. He is often compared to the late former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Mr Petros, who is proposing tax increases for wealthier Colombians and “democratizing” access to land and credit, dismissed the comparisons as “false and defamatory”.
Following the by-elections in Colombia on March 13, when Mr. Peter was the candidate with the highest number of votes, about 4.4 million, Mr. Gutierrez called for a united front against the Colombian left-wing candidate.
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