Campaign closing of candidate Gustavo Petro accompanied by his vice-presidential candidate Francia Marquez
In Bolivar Square, the main square of the Colombian capital, Gustavo Petro, candidate to the presidential election gives his last meeting before the first round planned one week later on Sunday, May 29th, 2022. The Bolivar square is filled with several tens of thousands of supporters. Gustavo Petro, candidate of the left for the coalition Historical Pact is accompanied during the meeting by his candidate for vice-president, Francia Marquez. They are leading the polls, with polls giving Petro between 36 and 41% of the first round ballots; the votes of his main opponent, Federico Gutierrez, a right-wing candidate, estimated between 21 and 31%. Petro's victory would be historic, as no left-wing candidate has ever won a presidential election. The country has had many assassinations of leftist candidates in its history. Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez had to face several death threats during the campaign. They are conducting their meeting with a heavy protection service, as evidenced by the bulletproof shields worn by bodyguards that surround the candidates when they speak on stage. While a peace agreement was signed at the end of 2016, but poorly implemented by the right-wing government that came to power in 2018, the country is experiencing a resurgence of violence due to internal conflict with the consolidation of several new armed groups in the territory. According to various international observers, 2021 was the most violent year since the peace agreement. And the assassinations of social leaders, committed to the local community, have increased considerably in the last three years, while more than 300 ex-guerrillas who signed the peace agreement of 201§ have also been assassinated. Candidate Petro proposes policies opposed to those of the previous government of Ivan Duque, defending a commitment focused on social justice and on the application of the peace agreement. Petro, a former mayor of Bogota, is a former guerrilla who laid down his arms during a previous peace agreement in the late 1980s. Francia Marquez is an Afro-descendant feminist from the social movement. In 2018, she received the Goldman International Environmental Prize.
Campaign closing of candidate Gustavo Petro accompanied by his vice-presidential candidate Francia Marquez
The Bolivar square is filled with several tens of thousands of supporters. Gustavo Petro, candidate of the left for the coalition Historical Pact is accompanied during the meeting by his candidate for vice-president, Francia Marquez. They are leading the polls, with polls giving Petro between 36 and 41% of the first round ballots; the votes of his main opponent, Federico Gutierrez, a right-wing candidate, estimated between 21 and 31%. Petro's victory would be historic, as no left-wing candidate has ever won a presidential election. The country has had many assassinations of leftist candidates in its history. Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez had to face several death threats during the campaign. They are conducting their meeting with a heavy protection service, as evidenced by the bulletproof shields worn by bodyguards that surround the candidates when they speak on stage. While a peace agreement was signed at the end of 2016, but poorly implemented by the right-wing government that came to power in 2018, the country is experiencing a resurgence of violence due to internal conflict with the consolidation of several new armed groups in the territory. According to various international observers, 2021 was the most violent year since the peace agreement. And the assassinations of social leaders, committed to the local community, have increased considerably in the last three years, while more than 300 ex-guerrillas who signed the peace agreement of 201§ have also been assassinated. Candidate Petro proposes policies opposed to those of the previous government of Ivan Duque, defending a commitment focused on social justice and on the application of the peace agreement. Petro, a former mayor of Bogota, is a former guerrilla who laid down his arms during a previous peace agreement in the late 1980s. Francia Marquez is an Afro-descendant feminist from the social movement. In 2018, she received the Goldman International Environmental Prize.
