Vote for Change: Gustavo Petro, Elected President of Colombia

For the first time in the history of Colombia, a left-wing president will gain access to the Casa de Nariño, seat of the Colombian presidency, after  winning Gustavo Petro, from the Alianza Histórico coalition, against a right-winger who calls himself independent, Rodolfo Hernández, of the League of Anti-Corruption Governors, which was backed by Uribism to try to maintain the privileges that it has achieved during these last years of governance.

With 99.99% of the tables accounted for, Petro obtained 50.44% of the votes (11,281,002) and Hernández 47.31% (10,580,399).

Hernández, who acknowledged his defeat, had surprisingly obtained more than 5.9 million votes in the first electoral round of last May 29^th, 28.17% of the votes that were cast, only surpassed by the 8.5 million votes for Petro (40.34%).

Petro's project, who stressed that the vote for change is to leave hatred behind, largely reflects the demands of the important social protests that shook the main streets of Colombia between 2019 and 2020 and that caused a strong repression on behalf of the regime of Iván Duque, in the course of which murders and massacres of all kinds increased, essentially against social leaders and former soldiers, in addition to continuous death threats against Petro and his companion in the presidential election, the now elected vice president, Francia Márquez , an Afro-Colombian.

His program proposes a radical change in the economic model, based on a boost in agricultural production prior to agrarian reform with which to tackle inequality. In Colombia, more than half of the land is in the hands of the 2% of people related with various criminal forms that have brought so much grief to the South American nation, a leader in the production and export of cocaine, with seven North American bases and one membership in the aggressive North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Hence, Petro, a former guerrilla member will have to face strong and diverse opposition and possibly a continued death threat.

WITHOUT HESITATION IN THE GOVERNMENT PROGRAM

The time has come for him to change: Colombia will be a World Power for Life through a Historical Agreement that urgently establishes a new social contract for good living with all the diversities of the nation, to finally enter an era of peace whose face is a multicolored democracy, an expression of citizen mandates, that makes equality a reality, a productive economy that generates wealth based on work and the protection of the common home. And so he describes it by region:

«Caribbean: we will strengthen the peasant and artisanal fishing economies, we will promote agroecological production, as well as agribusiness and agrotourism...

San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina: we will develop a political-administrative structure to give autonomy to the Insular Region - Seaflower integrated into the Greater Caribbean, recognizing and exalting the Raizal people...

Pacific coast: we will promote the autonomy of the peoples of the Pacific coast, according to their right to territory and a choice of their own life, guaranteeing balance in the distribution...

Andes and Inter-Andean Valleys of Cauca and Magdalena: we will order the city of Bogotá around water, recovering the Bogotá River basin through a plan for cleaning, conservation and use...

Tolima and Huila: we will order the territory around the water, protecting the Magdalena river basin to guarantee the life of a large part of the country and boost the economies...

Colombian Massif: progress will be made in the design of a Biological Repopulation Plan for this ecosystem considered "the largest spring in Colombia". With this Plan we will protect the Massif...

Amazon: we will respect the political autonomy of the territorial entities in the Amazon guaranteeing the right to self-determination of the peoples...

Altillanura and Orinoquía: we will promote a process of democratization of the land indicated to the Orinoquía and its land conflicts. The indigenous and peasant processes that are carried out before the State entities for the titling of ancestral lands or of historical occupation will be prioritized to guarantee the right to land, territory, work and life of all the peoples and peasant communities inhabiting the region. We will neutralize violence, displacement, land grabbing and new land invasions».

FOR ALL TERRITORIES

«The use of land with an agricultural vocation will be duly regulated by the territorial entities, avoiding deforestation and protecting the water cycle. A fertilization plan will be generated with public investments payable with transfers of possession for food production. The State will give priority to plains families, fertilized available lands, cooperative agroindustry will be promoted.

Livestock farming in the high plains will benefit from the development of agro-industrial and value-adding processes, so that the export of live cattle is reduced, the domestic market is supplied, and processed and secondary products are exported. The construction of refrigerators will guarantee the consolidation of meat food production circuits, which will stimulate the generation of jobs.

We will promote community association and support for agroecological tourism initiatives. The policy of payment for environmental services will be developed with peasant and indigenous communities that are committed to caring for ecosystems and developing a sustainable economy in the environment.

We will order the territory around water, protecting and rehabilitating the moors of Chingaza and Sumapaz in the foothills, as well as the water basins of the Ariari, the Duda, the Guayabero, the Orinoco, through sustainability projects for their use and conservation. Progress will be made in comprehensive reforestation projects for the watersheds: Chingaza, Sumapaz, Guayuriva, Gramalote, Meta, Guamal, Guaviare, with native species and based on local practices of care and supervision. The urban expansion of the Bogotá metropolitan area in the altillanura will be controlled to protect the paramos and the production of water that impacts the plain.

We will implement solar and wind energy projects as the path to energy transition in the region, through public-community, cooperative and mixed associations.

An interconnection road plan will be carried out between the municipal capitals of the municipalities of the region, as well as the tertiary road network that will interconnect the municipal capitals with the populated centers will be improved. At the same time, we will promote actions to improve the navigability of the Meta River and the airport infrastructure in the region."

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff