Colombia

Francia Marquez, a single mother and former housekeeper, will be Colombia's first Black woman vice president after a historic vote on Sunday saw the Andean ...

Colombia's new vice president-elect hails from the municipality of Suarez, a rural area of Colombia's Cauca province. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Environmental activist Francia Marquez will become Colombia's first Black vice president in a government that was elected on a platform of radical change.

Colombia giró a la izquierda por primera vez en su historia al elegir al exrebelde y senador Gustavo Petro como nuevo presidente.

Con el país norteamericano también plantea revisar el tratado de libre comercio firmado hace una década y la estrategia de lucha contra las drogas. “Petro puede trabajar con Estados Unidos muy pragmáticamente... la relación va a seguir siendo fuerte. Según los resultados preliminares, obtuvo el 50,4% de los votos, suficientes para vencer en el balotaje a Hernández, que logró el 47% de los sufragios. Además, buscará liderar la lucha contra el cambio climático para proteger la selva amazónica, para lo cual buscaría un diálogo con Estados Unidos sobre las altas emisiones de gases efecto invernadero. El resultado anticipa que gobernará con la presión de la oposición, además de que no tendrá mayoría en el Congreso. Cuando subió al escenario tras la victoria, ni el mismo Petro podía creer que fuera el presidente, aunque dijo haber soñado con ese momento.

El primer presidente de izquierda electo en Colombia, un economista y exguerrillero que se moderó como candidato, tiene parecidos y diferencias con otros ...

"La personalidad de Petro", explica. Si usted me pregunta si Maduro es hoy un dictador yo le digo que sí", dijo Petro a la revista Newsweek en 2018. "No porque lo adoremos, sino porque tenemos primero que superar la premodernidad en Colombia, el feudalismo", agregó. Petro "viene de una tradición de izquierda nacionalista y antiimperialista, un poco parecida quizás a la que inspira a López Obrador en México", dice Yann Basset, profesor de ciencia política en la Universidad del Rosario en Bogotá, a BBC Mundo. Y las comparaciones de Petro con otros líderes de izquierda de la región surgieron desde que fue electo alcalde de Bogotá en 2011. Petro es el caso más reciente de un izquierdista de América Latina que llega al poder en una ola de descontento social con la clase política, la desigualdad y el estancamiento económico.

His running mate, Francia Márquez, also marks the first time an Afro-Colombian woman will take the title of vice president. Runner-up Rodolfo Hernández—with ...

We are going to see that on Tuesday, and I really believe that is going to be an indicator of how Petro’s government is being handled abroad. I feel much less certain of Gustavo Petro. His economic platform raises many questions, and some statements over the years leave his commitment to independent institutions in doubt. I believe this is the beginning of a new era in Colombia where the left and the leftist parties are going to rule the country. Seeing her in the Movistar Arena on Sunday was a really powerful image because of her background. I also believe that this is a beginning of a new era in Colombia because of the deepening of democracy and the fact that this is the first time that we are going to see a Black woman like Francia Márquez in the vice presidency. In this regard, we are expecting to see some key messages in the next couple of days, and hopefully today he will send a key message by appointing the minister of finance. We are starting to see how big of a change Gustavo Petro is proposing. Negotiations have started with the other centrist parties and politicians with whom Gustavo Petro had tried to get close in recent weeks. If these do not come in the first few months, if people don’t see those quick wins quite fast, they are going to be disappointed, and the social disappointment could be worse than what we have seen in Colombia so far. He won by only 3% against his opponent, the anti-establishment businessman Rodolfo Hernández. This means that he will have to respond in a very precise way about exactly how he will govern, considering that more than 10 million people did not vote for him. However, he is putting his bets on the Gran Acuerdo Nacional, an initiative based on a broad coalition as his priority in order to avoid a negative market response. Notoriously absent in his first speech as president-elect were: respect for the independence of the central bank and any mention of the importance of fiscal sustainability.

He spent 12 years of his youth in the ranks of an urban guerrilla group, taking the alias of a revolutionary general from Gabriel García Márquez's One ...

“The candidate who promised the most, and in most detail, to implement the 2016 peace accord was elected,” said Adam Isacson, the director for defence oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, a US-based thinktank. “A key element of Petro’s plan is to increase governance and basic services in the neglected countryside where armed groups and coca continue to thrive, and that’s a core commitment of the peace accord. “Petro has a totally different vision because he has focused his attention on the most unprotected people in the country,” said Andres Felipe Barrero, who voted for Petro, on Sunday night. Despite the euphoria of Sunday night, Petro’s time in office is likely to be extremely challenging. Dissident Farc factions that did not demobilise and other rebel groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN) continue to roil the countryside and profit from drug-trafficking and racketeering operations. The M-19 demobilised in 1990, with some of its members signing Colombia’s current constitution.

The president-elect, Gustavo Petro, was once a rebel with the now-defunct M-19 movement.

The rejection of politics as usual "is a reflection of the fact that the people are fed up with the same people as always," said Nataly Amezquita, a 26-year-old civil engineer waiting to vote. ... Neither of them seems like a good person to me." Petro is willing to resume diplomatic relations with Venezuela, which were halted in 2019. The vote is also resulting in Colombia having a Black woman as vice president for the first time. Neither got enough votes to win outright and headed into the runoff. "We have to create greater social change. Official figures show that 39% of Colombia's lived on less than $89 a month last year. Petro's showing was the latest leftist political victory in Latin America fueled by voters' desire for change. Petro has proposed ambitious pension, tax, health and agricultural reforms and changes to how Colombia fights drug cartels and other armed groups. "I accept the result, as it should be, if we want our institutions to be firm," he said in a video on social media. Petro's win in Latin America's third most populous nation was more than a defeat of Hernández. It puts an end to Colombia's long stigmatization of the left for its perceived association with the country's half century of armed conflict. Chile, Peru and Honduras elected leftist presidents in 2021, and in Brazil former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is leading the polls for this year's presidential election.

Colombia será gobernada por un presidente de izquierda por primera vez después de que el exguerrillero Gustavo Petro derrotó por poco a un magnate ...

According to the international media, Gustavo Petro, the 21^st century socialist who won Colombia's presidential election on Sunday, ...

On Sunday, Petro claimed that he owed his victory to the young and to oppressed minorities. He might even try a hostile takeover of the central bank. But he still managed to woo a former “neoliberal” finance minister, several ex‐members of the central bank’s board, and other sacred cows of the technocrat class. Petro’s rival was Rodolfo Hernandez, a 77‐year‐old construction magnate who was a one‐term mayor of a medium‐sized city and a neophyte on the national stage. One mantra that binds these subsectors together is that the country’s heavily interventionist economy, which ranks 92nd in the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World index, is a “ neoliberal” outpost in dire need of even more taxes, regulations, and welfare handouts. He was rumored to spend as much time in the Jockey Club as in the presidential palace.

"Seremos un gobierno de la vida abierto al mundo. El pueblo colombiano como parte de la humanidad", manifestó hoy el presidente electo en su cuenta de Twitter ...

"Seremos un gobierno de la vida abierto al mundo. Le propongo al Gobierno de los Estados Unidos y a todos los gobiernos de América sentarnos a dialogar para sentar los pasos de la transición energética, los pasos de la construcción de una economía descarbonizada, los pasos de la construcción de una economía de la vida en toda América", expresó el domingo. Duque agregó que quienes asumen la Presidencia de un país tienen un gran reto, que es guiarse "por el orden constitucional y por la legalidad, por el respeto a la independencia de poderes y a estar siempre al servicio de los ciudadanos".Duque agregó que quienes asumen la Presidencia de un país tienen un gran reto, que es guiarse "por el orden constitucional y por la legalidad, por el respeto a la independencia de poderes y a estar siempre al servicio de los ciudadanos". "Le propongo al Gobierno de los Estados Unidos y a todos los gobiernos de América sentarnos a dialogar para sentar los pasos de la transición energética, los pasos de la construcción de una economía descarbonizada, los pasos de la construcción de una economía de la vida en toda América", expresó el domingo." El Pacto Histórico es una amplia coalición que abarca desde el partido izquierdista Polo Democrático Alternativo hasta parte de la Alianza Verde y de movimientos de centro-derecha como Colombia Renaciente, del exministro de Ambiente Luis Gilberto Murillo, que se le unió para la segunda vuelta.El Pacto Histórico es una amplia coalición que abarca desde el partido izquierdista Polo Democrático Alternativo hasta parte de la Alianza Verde y de movimientos de centro-derecha como Colombia Renaciente, del exministro de Ambiente Luis Gilberto Murillo, que se le unió para la segunda vuelta. La llegada al poder del jefe del Pacto Histórico supone un giro para un país que ha sido gobernado históricamente por la derecha y que espera con grandes expectativas un presidente que promete reformas económicas y sociales a partir del 7 de agosto, cuando reemplazará al actual mandatario, Iván Duque.La llegada al poder del jefe del Pacto Histórico supone un giro para un país que ha sido gobernado históricamente por la derecha y que espera con grandes expectativas un presidente que promete reformas económicas y sociales a partir del 7 de agosto, cuando reemplazará al actual mandatario, Iván Duque.

El gobierno del presidente venezolano Nicolás Maduro expresa su voluntad de construir una nueva etapa de cooperación y estrechar vínculos con Colombia tras ...

El dirigente opositor agradeció el apoyo de Duque a “los migrantes y a la lucha por la democracia” en Venezuela. Se estima que unos dos millones de venezolanos migraron a Colombia huyendo de la crisis social, política y económica que azota al país. La víspera a través de Twitter, Guaidó elogió el proceso electoral en Colombia, manifestando que el país vecino decidió su “futuro en elecciones libres y justas, que es lo que aspiramos y por lo que luchamos sin descanso en Venezuela" y abogó para que la administración de Petro “mantenga la protección a venezolanos vulnerables en su país y acompañe la lucha de Venezuela para recuperar su democracia”. Petro se convirtió el domingo en el primer presidente de izquierda de Colombia, un país sudamericano tradicionalmente gobernado por conservadores y moderados.

Gustavo Petro's victory in Colombia's presidential elections on Sunday opens a new page in the history of the country's relations with the US.

"I would have gone and told Biden it was wrong not to invite some countries, but I would never refuse an occasion for dialogue." But the election of leftist former guerrilla Petro to the country's highest office could radically change that relationship. The nation -- which has never had a left-wing president -- has been Washington's closest ally in the region for decades.

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia for the first time elected a leftist as its next president, but the slim victory is a cue that a large portion of the country ...

“We witnessed how unproductive Ivan Duque’s first year was by not giving into ‘pork barrel’ politics and yielding to the content of his initial package of laws then,” Guzmán said. Some forecast a market selloff Tuesday when trading resumes after Monday’s holiday. He wants the tax reform to finance social programs, including free higher education and subsidies for mothers who are heads of households. But Petro, a former rebel who is now president-elect, faces a steep road to carry out the changes his supporters want to see as Colombia struggles with inequality, inflation and violence. “Colombia is praying for your government to be a government of change so that this generation, or at least the next generation, can say Petro made the best government because he was the president of the people and the president of the youth because it was the people who elected him,” Lozada said. In a nod to the resistance, Petro during his victory speech addressed the other half of Colombia that did not vote for him and proposed a “great national dialogue” that includes his staunchest opponents to achieve consensus.

BOGOTÁ (AP) — Colombia giró hacia la izquierda por primera vez en su historia al elegir al exrebelde y actual senador Gustavo Petro como su nuevo presidente ...

vamos las mujeres a erradicar el patriarcado de nuestro país. Vamos juntos a erradicar el racismo estructural", dijo Márquez en la noche del domingo mientras la multitud coreaba "¡Sí se pudo!" Con el país norteamericano también plantea revisar el tratado de libre comercio firmado hace una década y la estrategia de lucha contra las drogas. "Petro puede trabajar con Estados Unidos muy pragmáticamente... la relación va a seguir siendo fuerte. Según los resultados preliminares, obtuvo el 50,4% de los votos, suficientes para vencer en el balotaje a Hernández, que logró el 47% de los sufragios. Además, buscará liderar la lucha contra el cambio climático para proteger la selva amazónica, para lo cual buscaría un diálogo con Estados Unidos sobre las altas emisiones de gases efecto invernadero. Cuando subió al escenario tras la victoria, ni el mismo Petro podía creer que fuera el presidente, aunque dijo haber soñado con ese momento.

El exrebelde y senador Gustavo Petro hace historia y se convierte en el primer presidente de izquierda en Colombia, un país tradicionalmente gobernado por ...

Tras el triunfo de Petro, el actual embajador de Colombia en Estados Unidos, Juan Carlos Pinzón, presentó su renuncia al cargo diplomático para hacerse efectiva el 6 de agosto, un día antes de la posesión del nuevo presidente. Petro, de 62 años, ha prometido gobernar para las minorías y los pobres, que en Colombia alcanzan el 39% de la población, según cifras oficiales de 2021. No vamos a utilizar el poder en función de destruir al oponente”, dijo Petro, quien aseguró que durante su mandato la oposición será siempre bienvenida “para dialogar sobre los problemas de Colombia”. Chile, Perú y Honduras eligieron presidentes de izquierda en 2021 y en Brasil el exmandatario Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva lidera las encuestas para las elecciones presidenciales de este año. Varios líderes latinoamericanos, entre ellos los mandatarios de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro; de Argentina, Alberto Fernández, y de México, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, entre otros, también reconocieron el triunfo del senador colombiano. Además, tanto el presidente Iván Duque como su contendiente reconocieron los resultados.

Bill 401, Juliàn Estaban's Law, was ratified by the Colombian government today after consultations with civil society, the World Health Organization and ...

The law includes a maximum speed limit of 50 Km/h in urban areas and 30 Km/h in residential areas of with schools. The Global Plan calls for a 50% reduction in deaths from road crashes by 2030. A strong push from civil society, Senators, House Representatives and grantees supported by the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety helped shape the new law.

Leftist Gustavo Petro's victory in Colombia was the most stunning example yet of how the pandemic has transformed the politics of Latin America.

The United States has a history of successful relationships with some leftist presidents in South America, such as Uruguay’s José Mujica and Brazil’s Lula, Aronson said. He said the time had come to sit down with the United States and talk about its emissions of greenhouses gases, which are being absorbed by “one of the largest sponges,” Latin America’s Amazon rainforest. Like many populist presidents before him, Petro’s greatest challenge will be following through on his promises to the poor — especially with a divided legislature. Petro’s critics fear that his ambitious plans, including his redistributive policies and his proposal to ban new oil exploration, could ruin Colombia’s economy. He has also suggested changing the extradition treaty and foreign trade agreement between the two countries. From Bogotá to Santiago, many voters are no longer buying the argument that a swing to the left will mean a government run by the likes of Hugo Chávez or Fidel Castro. They’ve tried to distance themselves from the machismo of previous leftist eras, winning power by promising to protect the rights of women, LGBTQ people and Afro-indigenous communities. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador skipped the summit after President Biden declined to invite three authoritarian countries — Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. While Boric attended, he also criticized Biden, telling The Post the United States is missing opportunities to advance its democratic goals for Latin America by refusing to engage with its adversaries. This time around, the conservative establishment’s chosen candidate failed to even make it to the second round after his message about the dangers of a Petro presidency fell flat. Some worry a Petro presidency could strain that long-running partnership. And now it has happened in Colombia, a country where the left has long been associated with guerrilla movements over decades of bloody internal conflict. Across the continent, voters have punished those in power for failing to lift them out of their misery.

Colombia for the first time elected a leftist as its next president, but the slim victory is a cue that a large portion of the country rejects the ambitious ...

“We witnessed how unproductive Ivan Duque’s first year was by not giving into ‘pork barrel’ politics and yielding to the content of his initial package of laws then," Guzmán said. He wants the tax reform to finance social programs, including free higher education and subsidies for mothers who are heads of households. Some forecast a market selloff Tuesday when trading resumes after Monday's holiday. But Petro, a former rebel who is now president-elect, faces a steep road to carry out the changes his supporters want to see as Colombia struggles with inequality, inflation and violence. "Colombia is praying for your government to be a government of change so that this generation, or at least the next generation, can say Petro made the best government because he was the president of the people and the president of the youth because it was the people who elected him,” Lozada said. In a nod to the resistance, Petro during his victory speech addressed the other half of Colombia that did not vote for him and proposed a “great national dialogue” that includes his staunchest opponents to achieve consensus.

En segunda vuelta contra un candidato independiente Gustavo Petro logró 2 millones de votos más de los que obtuvo en la primera vuelta con una taza de...

Gustavo Petro es el presidente”. “En 3, 4 meses en 5 meses en un año vamos a empezar a ver las críticas y que el cambio que tanto ha prometido no se está dando”. “Fue un discurso completamente improvisado hablo de todo, reponiendo a la esperanza entonces don que va a resolver el desempleo, va a resolver la desigualdad, va a mantener el capitalismo”.

History was made in Colombia. A presidential ticket with a message of social justice and equality will govern the country for the next four years.

Colombia remains the main receiving country for over 1.8 million migrants and refugees from Venezuela and the Petro government should commit to promoting and implementing human rights-centered policies for inclusion and integration of this group, with U.S. support. Giving prosecutors, investigators, and judges the human resources, technology, training, physical presence, and security they need to do their jobs will be essential. The agreement is crucial for Colombia’s future as a blueprint for addressing many of the other issues preventing human rights, prosperity, and true democracy from becoming realities for millions across the country. Fourth, the U.S. government must continue supporting the humanitarian response to Venezuelan and other refugees and migrants. Among those, much of the U.S. policy apparatus continues to back military-heavy approaches that, rather than break corrupt relations with government officials on which armed groups thrive, make populations less safe. Petro is also proposing to move away from aerial herbicide fumigation and other forms of forced coca eradication that punish poor coca-producing families without really lowering cocaine supplies, instead focusing on supporting rural communities. Time for celebration will undoubtedly be cut short by the monumental human rights, ethnic rights, and humanitarian crises facing the South American nation. These include, among others, a wide rural reform to end a historic neglect of the violent, feudal countryside, political participation of long excluded sectors like campesinos, Afro-descendant and Indigenous Peoples, women, and LGBTQ+ people, solutions for families who depend on coca crops for survival, and a transitional justice system to honor victims of the conflict. President Joe Biden has already spoken about the importance of Colombia as an ally in the region. In a country with a long history of tragic political violence and deep polarization, this should not be underestimated. History was made in Colombia. A presidential ticket with a message of social justice and equality will govern the country for the next four years. Commitment is an important step but, for change to actually happen, polarization will need to give way to willingness to work towards a common goal, one that includes the peace, equality and justice often spoken about that the country desperately needs.

El mapa de las elecciones no deja duda alguna: los olvidados de Colombia fueron los que definieron el destino del país, que con Gustavo Petro y Francia ...

En este sentido, remarca que mientras que Hernández se "desconectó" de los seguidores en último trecho de la campaña y no supo capitalizar los resultados de la primera vuelta, Petro convivió con los votantes, visitando departamentos como el Chocó y Magdalena. El resultado es "un mensaje de cómo las cosas han cambiado" en Colombia, explica. La similitud con la distribución geográfica del voto a favor de Petro es evidente. Hernández "no tenía un programa para conquistar el voto afro ni el voto de los indígenas", dice por su parte a CNN en Español Eduardo Pizano, analista político y exministro. "Llegó mucho mejor a los estratos bajos", considera. "Después de 214 años logramos un gobierno del pueblo, un gobierno popular.

We had no preference in Sunday's Colombian presidential election runoff and frankly we didn't envy Colombians the decision they had to make.

Still, it must be acknowledged that Mr. Petro (and indeed Mr. Hernández) tapped discontent with the country’s traditional parties that was rooted in real issues, such as chronic corruption and an uptick of economic inequality over the past four years. To the contrary, that cause might benefit from the rise of left-wing governments, as long as both they and their opponents on the populist right pursue their political conflicts within constitutional checks and balances. Similar divisions of power have turned governance into a slog for new leftist presidents in Peru and Chile. Mexico’s Congress, too, has blocked some of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s more extreme proposals. Other institutions might act as a check on the new president: Colombia’s Congress, for example, is fragmented, and Mr. Petro’s opponents control more seats than his party does. After a first-round election on May 29, the voters’ choices had been narrowed to two former mayors, whose competence was iffy and whose ideologies were extreme when they were not vague: populist 77-year-old construction magnate Rodolfo Hernández, a Trump-like independent, and Gustavo Petro, a leftist senator and former militant in a guerrilla group. We had no preference in Sunday’s Colombian presidential election runoff and frankly we didn’t envy Colombians the decision they had to make.

Colombia just elected a new president, and Bitcoin is the hope of both his followers and worried opposition. Who Is Gustavo Petro?

He also claimed to support a few crypto ideals: “Bitcoin removes issuing power from the states and the seigniorage of the currency from the banks. “Bitcoin is going to be the average citizen’s only means of escape when his policy of excessively printing money destroys an already weak currency like the peso. One of Petro’s main worries is the country’s production of cocaine. Colombia is the world’s largest producer of this drug. Petro has also strongly flirted with the idea of money printing. This is a major event for the country.