Colombia elects first left-wing president

[CyberRose]

With just over 98% of votes counted, the media have called a win for Gustavo Petro in the second round of the election, making him Colombia's first ever left-wing president.

Gustavo Petro elected as Colombia’s next president

Colombia has elected Gustavo Petro as president – making him the first ever leftist president of Colombia. Find out what to expect now.

thebogotapost.com

It will be an interesting 6 months until he's inaugurated given the head of the army spoke out against him in the run up to the election...
Controversy in Colombia over the statements of the head of the Army against Petro

 

[8ball]

I expect the CIA are already on it.

 

[CyberRose]

Not just the first left-wing president, but also the first Black vice-president...

Francia Márquez — a former housekeeper and activist — is Colombia’s first Black vice president.

Ms. Márquez’s biting analysis of social disparities cracked open a discussion about race and class in a manner rarely heard in the country’s powerful political circles.

www.nytimes.com

For the first time in Colombia’s history, a Black woman is close to the top of the executive branch.

Francia Márquez, an environmental activist from the mountainous department of Cauca in southwestern Colombia, has become a national phenomenon, mobilizing decades of voter frustration, and becoming the country’s first Black vice president on Sunday, as the running mate to Gustavo Petro.

The Petro-Márquez ticket won Sunday’s runoff election, according to preliminary results. Mr. Petro, a former rebel and longtime legislator, will become the country’s first leftist president.

The rise of Ms. Márquez is significant not only because she is Black in a nation where Afro-Colombians are regularly subject to racism and must contend with structural barriers, but because she comes from poverty in a country where economic class so often defines a person’s place in society. Most recent former presidents were educated abroad and are connected to the country’s powerful families and kingmakers.

 

[ska invita]

some cold water: sounds like he has little room to get anything passed

commentator in the video says "he doesn't have a majority in government - i'll just give you an idea, he has 20 members of senate on his side he needs 54 to pass any initiative he can achieve 40 or 44 with alliances so he would have to ally himself with the far right to achieve anything "

pretty interesting to hear Petro say he wants to transition to a capitalist economy - away from the current situation of feudalism! That might reassure some corporate interests

I wonder if Biden has said anything in relation to this

 

[CyberRose]

commentator in the video says "he doesn't have a majority in government - i'll just give you an idea, he has 20 members of senate on his side he needs 54 to pass any initiative he can achieve 40 or 44 with alliances so he would have to ally himself with the far right to achieve anything "

Depending on the particular policy he's got a bit more wiggle room than that. For implementing the peace process the majority of Congress support it so that shouldn't be an issue (the issue over the past 4 years is that President Duque held it up, rather than Congress). For economic reforms he might not even be able to count on the Liberals to support him (and in Colombia, "Liberal" rarely means that) so he might not even get those 44 votes. There will have to be a lot of negotiating and dealing, and unfortunately I'm not sure that's Petro's strong point.

As for relying on the far right, I initially laughed at the suggestion as they will be the ones most determined to torpedo anything he wants to do. Then I remembered that in 2 years Petro will appoint a new attorney general (or maybe before if there's a mechanism to sack an attorney general who isn't doing his job, which is essentially the case for the last 2 years) and has spent his entire career campaigning against corrupt politicians, especially those that were accused of allying themselves with the paramilitaries (many of whom grouped themselves under the umbrella of Alvaro Uribe's party to oppose the peace process that established a special court to investigate crimes committed during the conflict not only by the FARC, but also by corrupt military personnel and politicians). The possibility of an amnesty/pardon might prove tempting for many of them to see Petro's policies in a new light!

pretty interesting to hear Petro say he wants to transition to a capitalist economy - away from the current situation of feudalism! That might reassure some corporate interests

Interestingly Jaime Gilinski's bank (Colombia's second richest man) bankrolled Petro's previous campaign (around 80% of Petro's campaign funding came from loans from his bank - not sure about this current campaign). He also invested heavily in Colombia just before the election while other investors were holding off so he seems fairly confident in the economic future