AFP, BOGOTA
Colombians yesterday voted in a presidential election that was to determine the conflict-ridden nation’s response to spiraling violence, either staying left and opting for dialogue or tacking right toward all-out war.The constitution forbids a second term for the country’s first-ever leftist president, Gustavo Petro, whose “total peace” strategy has failed to negotiate an end to conflict with armed groups.Despite his absence from the ballot, “the campaign revolves around Petro,” University of Rosario political science professor Yann Basset said.
A woman sweeps the floor as ballot boxes are installed in Bogota on Saturday, the eve of Colombia’s presidential elections.
“He’s at the center of all the discussions,” Basset added.Car bombs, explosive drones and the assassination of a presidential candidate have pockmarked the polarizing leader’s term, and experts said guerrillas have used talks to fortify their positions.
Whoever replaces Petro would have to reckon with a myriad of criminal groups engaging in drug trafficking and illegal mining.However, joblessness has fallen and wages have risen, and polls have showed Colombian Senator Ivan Cepeda, Petro’s protege, as the front-runner.The son of a slain communist leader, Cepeda was an architect of historic 2016 peace accords that saw the rebel army FARC lay down arms.He has pledged to continue pursuing “total peace” and extend social programs in a deeply unequal society.Lizeth Saens, 18, said she was voting for Cepeda.“The Petro administration has made quite a few changes, because it has really helped the community,” she said. “While the changes haven’t been huge, they’ve definitely been noticeable.”However, dialogue with guerrillas is not to the taste of Cepeda’s right-wing rivals, who are betting on security fears to shunt the left out of office.Polls suggest a June 21 run-off between Cepeda and millionaire lawyer Abelardo De la Espriella, as no candidate is projected to have enough support to win the first ballot outright.De la Espriella, self-styled “Tiger” and admirer of US President Donald Trump, wants to bring the country back to all-out clashes with guerrillas.“What De la Espriella wants is to put the house in order,” former soldier Wilmer Bolivar said. Colombian Senator Paloma Valencia favors the same militarized approach.“We are going to put an end to ‘total peace’ in order to impose total security,” she said.Despite heightened fears of bloodshed, election day itself is expected to remain calm.“Even criminal organizations unilaterally declare a ceasefire before the elections so that they can proceed peacefully,” National Electoral Council member judge Alvaro Echeverry said.Last year’s killing of right-wing candidate Miguel Uribe, blamed on a leftist guerrilla group, has left many Colombians nervous about a return to the bad old days.In late April, a bomb on a highway in the Cauca region killed 21 people, making it the deadliest attack against civilians in recent decades. The group responsible later claimed a “tactical error.”The next president needs to provide “some peace of mind, some peace, because the way things are, we’re very anxious. There’s a lot, a lot of conflict,” 57-year-old housewife Maria Eugenia Motato said.
