Throughout his victory speech on Sunday evening, Petro stated he’s open to discussion with Hernandez. He often known as for a Nice Nationwide settlement to finish violence within the nation, announcing, “What’s coming this is actual trade, actual trade. That’s what we’re committing our lives to. We can no longer betray the voters that has demanded that Colombia trade from nowadays.”
“Let’s rejoice the primary widespread victory. Might such a lot of sufferings be cushioned within the pleasure that nowadays floods the center of the hometown,” Petro tweeted in birthday celebration on Sunday evening.
Outgoing Colombian President Ivan Duque stated he known as Petro to congratulate him on his victory and that they’d “agreed to satisfy within the coming days to begin a harmonious, institutional and clear transition.”
“I settle for the end result accurately if we wish our establishments to be sturdy. I sincerely hope that this resolution that has been taken is really useful for all and that Colombia is heading against the trade that prevailed within the vote within the first spherical,” he stated.
Hernandez additionally stated he hopes Petro is aware of learn how to lead the rustic and that “(Petro) is trustworthy to his speech in opposition to corruption and that he does no longer disappoint those that accept as true with him.”
Each applicants had run on guarantees of trade, looking for to profit from what number of Colombians are bored stiff with Duque — a pacesetter whose tenure has been outlined via his management’s dealing with of police behavior, inequality, and clashes between arranged felony teams.
Petro, 62, had already noticed two failed presidential bids in 2010 and 2018. Sunday’s run-off vote means that he has in any case conquer the hesitation of electorate who as soon as noticed him a thorough left-wing outsider — no small feat for a political candidate taking a look to win over one in every of South The usa’s maximum conservative international locations.
The make stronger Petro has garnered will also be in part attributed to Colombia’s worsening socioeconomic state of affairs, together with deteriorating dwelling stipulations, made worse via the affect of the Covid-19 pandemic and the affect of the conflict in Ukraine.
Petro has traditionally campaigned in desire of upper company taxes and public subsidies for the running magnificence and the deficient, a tactic that may assist him draw extra other people from that demographic to his camp.
Petro’s birthday celebration and allies have been already the most important bloc within the Senate — despite the fact that they don’t regulate a majority of seats.
A chequered previous
Born within the rural north Colombian the town of Ciénaga de Oro, Petro spent his early life within the ranks of a leftist guerrilla motion, the nineteenth of April Motion (M19) — based to protest in opposition to allegations of fraud within the 1970 elections.
The crowd used to be a part of a so-called 2nd wave of guerrilla actions within the nation that swept the area within the Seventies beneath the affect of the Cuban Revolution.
M19 used to be related to criminal activity — together with alleged kidnappings for ransom — however Petro says he performed criminal actions that aimed to mobilize other people to get up to what he known as a “false democracy,” even serving as a councilman within the town of Zipaquirá.
Petro used to be detained via the police in 1985 for concealing guns. In a while after, M19 introduced an assault to take over Bogota’s Splendid Court docket development that left a minimum of 98 other people killed, together with 12 magistrates (11 are nonetheless lacking). Petro denies he used to be concerned within the attack, which happened whilst he used to be in the back of bars.
By the point Petro used to be launched in 1987, after 18 months in army prison, his ideological point of view had modified. He stated that point helped him notice that an armed revolution used to be no longer the most efficient solution to win widespread make stronger.
Two years later, M19 entered peace negotiations with the Colombian state, with Petro able to battle the gadget from the interior.
A gentle marketing campaign
Since dropping the 2018 election, Petro has constantly attempted to minimize fears that his financial plan — which additionally proposes a halt to fossil gas explorations and renegotiation of world business agreements — is “too radical” for Colombia. He has since surrounded himself with extra conventional politicians who may just construct bridges with the established order.
Now, he is presenting himself as a brand new form of innovative.
In April, he signed a pledge to not expropriate any non-public land if elected. He is additionally tipped a average to be his financial minister, and has sought to make world ties with new progressives, similar to america’ Congressional Modern Caucus, slightly than conventional left-wing leaders like Bolivia’s Evo Morales.
His critics have stated he’s too highbrow and indifferent — if no longer outright pedantic, with even his personal marketing campaign staff relating to him as “the Petroxplainer,” given his tendency to lecture.
To counter this, he is been campaigning in probably the most nation’s maximum impoverished spaces, the place he is been talking to locals in conversations streamed on Instagram.
Petro guess on Colombians to imagine in him as an advanced baby-kisser, telling CNN that he is controlled to effectively mix his modern zeal with follow public control.
Subsequent, the previous guerrilla — whose nom-de-guerre Aureliano Buendia is taken from creator Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s magical realism vintage, One Hundred Years of Solitude — hopes to cause a systematic revolution in Colombia, asking economists to run thru his proposals.
“Magical realism comes from the center whilst my clinical proposals are from the mind. To rule you wish to have them each,” he stated.
Reporting contributed via CNN’s Michelle Velez.
