Colombia elections

A former rebel and longtime legislator won Colombia's presidential election on Sunday, galvanizing voters frustrated by decades of poverty and inequality ...

“Why? Because the person grew up in the context of love and support.” “What’s key is that he wasn’t part of the main circle who made the decisions in M-19. He was very young at that moment,” she said. To a segment of Colombians who are clamoring for change and for more diverse representation, Ms. Márquez is their champion. She grew up sleeping on a dirt floor in a region battered by violence related to the country’s long internal conflict. It turned into a political party that helped rewrite the country’s constitution to focus more on equality and human rights. The M-19 was born in 1970 as a response to alleged fraud in that year’s presidential elections. Mr. Hernández and Dr. Castillo said that, if elected, she would have also become the minister of education. There are now nearly nine million Colombian voters 28 or younger, the most in history, and a quarter of the electorate. “Because of the family togetherness.” He is calling for a halt to all new oil exploration, a shift to developing other industries, and an expansion of social programs, while imposing higher taxes on the rich. “Colombians, today the majority of citizens have chosen the other candidate,” he said. For decades, the government fought a brutal leftist insurgency known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, with the stigma from the conflict making it difficult for a legitimate left to flourish.

BOGOTA, Colombia — Former rebel Gustavo Petro narrowly won a runoff election over a political outsider millionaire Sunday, ushering in a new era of politics ...

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The United States and Colombia enjoy deep bonds between our peoples, shared values, and shared interests in democracy, security, inclusive economic prosperity, ...

Cooperation between the United States and Colombia has improved public health, livelihoods, rule of law and environmental protections in both our countries and throughout the region. The United States and Colombia enjoy deep bonds between our peoples, shared values, and shared interests in democracy, security, inclusive economic prosperity, and human rights. We commend the many officials, public servants, and volunteers whose dedication made these elections possible.

Progressive Senator Gustavo Petro became Colombia's first progressive president-elect since the 1930's after a historic vote on Sunday.

Most of the fraud reports came from the capital Bogota. The irregularities were among the 297 election fraud reports received by the MOE until 4PM when the polls closed. According to MOE director Alejandro Barrios, some of the ballots that were delivered to the polling stations had dots and stripes in the square meant for the blank vote.

Gustavo Petro will become Colombia's first leftist leader, after winning the country's presidential race on Sunday.

He said that time helped him realize that an armed revolution was not the best strategy to win popular support. In April, he signed a pledge not to expropriate any private land if elected. Petro was detained by the police in 1985 for concealing weapons. "I accept the result as it should be if we want our institutions to be strong. We will not betray the electorate that has demanded that Colombia change from today." "Let's celebrate the first popular victory.

Former rebel Petro's victory marks the first time in history Colombia has elected a left-wing candidate as president.

In that vein, he has said he wants to shift Colombia’s relationship with the United States away from anti-narcotics policies and towards the fight against climate change. The 62-year-old Petro had been a non-combatant member of the M-19 rebel group, for which he was briefly jailed and allegedly tortured. For his part, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Petro’s success could herald a healing period in the country. Argentina, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Bolivia and Honduras have all moved to the left in their last elections, although some observers have argued the shift is rooted more in populism than ideology. Among his campaign promises, Petro pledged to address profound social and economic inequality in traditionally conservative Colombia, where successive governments have focused primarily on addressing insecurity and violence linked to the country’s nearly six-decade-long armed conflict. “We will work together for the unity of our continent in the challenges of a world changing rapidly,” he tweeted.

Colombians voted Sunday in a presidential election to choose between an ex-guerrilla who wants to transform their business-friendly economic model, ...

Along with the first left-wing president, voters elected the first Black woman vice president.

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." "I accept the result, as it should be, if we want our institutions to be firm," he said in a video on social media. "We have to create greater social change. The vote is also resulting in Colombia having a Black woman as vice president for the first time. Petro is willing to resume diplomatic relations with Venezuela, which were halted in 2019. 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. Official figures show that 39% of Colombia's lived on less than $89 a month last year. Neither got enough votes to win outright and headed into the runoff. 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. The pandemic set back the country's anti-poverty efforts by at least a decade.