Former guerrilla fighter Gustavo Petro has been elected as the next president of Colombia. Notably, the firebrand leftist leader won the presidential election by a narrow margin against populist business magnate Rodolfo Hernandez. This was Petro’s third attempt at gaining the presidency after failed bids in 2010 and 2018.
Petro was born into a modest family on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. He embraced leftist politics as a teenager after the 1973 coup attack in Chile that unseated Marxist president Salvador Allende.
Who is Gustavo Petro?
The 62-year-old Colombia senator was sentenced for his involvement with the M-19 guerrilla group during his younger years. However, while being in jail for years, Petro has alleged he was subjected to torture by the military. He is a family man and is a father of five children. Petro has also formerly served as the mayor of the capital city Bogota. The President-elect first came into prominence nationally after his passionate speeches against corruption and violence by right-wing paramilitary groups. The political allies created a buzz in the country.
He says that his “political awakening” came after witnessing his father’s tears; after the world-famous revolutionary Che Guevara died. Equally important, during his rebel days, Petro was reportedly not a combatant in the M-19 group. Moreover, the guerrilla group is infamous for a 1985 incident; where they took hostage top Colombian judges. The confrontation with forces that took place resulted in nearly 100 deaths. Owing to his revolutionary past, Petro is accused of having a bias toward guerillas. It is claimed that he would favor former rebels while in office.