Former guerrilla group member Gustavo Petro rides wave of enthusiasm to second place in the polls, despite country’s conservative tradition

'Of course he can win': leftist defies odds in Colombian presidential race

'Of course he can win': leftist defies odds in Colombian presidential race

Thousands of people had gathered in Bogotá’s historic Plaza de Bolívar. Some waved banners, others drank beer and danced as a musician from the Caribbean coast played on stage.

Ahead of the first round of presidential elections this weekend, they were waiting to see the man they hope will defy expectations – and buck Colombia’s habit of voting in candidates from the right.

Short and bespectacled, Gustavo Petro has long been a thorn in the side of the country’s political elite: as a youth he was a member of the now-defunct M-19 guerrilla group; more recently he was a divisive mayor of the capital city.



Now, thanks in part to a peace process with a different rebel group, he has amassed a following unheard of in generations for a leftist candidate in Colombia – and rattled the country’s conservative orthodoxy.



“Of course Petro can win; look at the support he has here,” said the street artist Ana María Villas at last week’s rally. “It’s the first time in my life I’ve seen a leftist candidate come this far. It’s the first time I’ve been excited for a candidate.”

Recent polls put Petro second – behind the rightwing hardliner Iván Duque – and suggest he will survive the first round of elections on Sunday.



Three other candidates sit between Petro and Duque on the political spectrum, though all are flagging far behind in the polls. Assuming no candidate receives more than half the vote, a 17 June runoff between the two top contenders will decide the presidency.



The enthusiasm Petro provokes among his supporters seems at odds with his bookish persona: campaign rallies resemble sociology seminars, with meandering speeches that eschew soundbites in place of historical analysis.

“This is a unique opportunity for citizens to reach social justice and true peace,” he said in a rare moment of brevity from the stage at last week’s rally.

He went on to invoke two celebrated figures of the Colombian left, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán and Luis Carlos Galán – both of whom were presidential candidates assassinated at the height of their popularity.

Symbolically, Petro gave his speech in front of Colombia’s Palace of Justice, a building M-19 rebels stormed in 1985 with disastrous consequences. A subsequent army attempt to recapture the building led to the deaths of at least 100 people, many of whom were murdered by soldiers after they were captured.

Petro has played down his involvement in the M-19 group, maintaining he was just a community organiser and never carried a rifle. But many draw parallels between the group’s transformation from armed group to political party and a current peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Petro speaks to supporters during a campaign event. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

The Farc laid down their weapons last June – formally ending five decades of war that left 220,000 dead and 7 million displaced – as part of a peace deal so controversial it initially failed to pass a public referendum in October 2016.



Some victims of that conflict now see Petro as their best chance to see the fragile deal implemented.



2017 was deadliest year on record for Colombian human rights defenders Read more

“When you see a former member of the M-19 this close to the presidency, it’s proof that peace can work, that weapons aren’t the only way to fight for your beliefs,” said Olga Betancourt, who was displaced in 2002 by state-aligned militias looking to weed out Farc fighters from her community in Colombia’s eastern plains. “Petro is the best candidate for peace.”



Analysts attribute Petro’s success on the campaign trail to changing attitudes prompted by the Farc’s demobilisation.



“The left is now coming out from underneath the rock,” Sandra Borda, head of the social sciences faculty at the Tadeo University in Bogota, said. “The peace process has opened up a space where belonging to the left no longer means association with armed groups.”



Petro’s rise would have been unthinkable even a year ago, Borda said. “It’s remarkable that he could make it to the second round despite all traditional media being against him,” she said, adding that clever use of social media had galvanised his movement.



Petro’s supporters say his grassroots popularity represents a break from the traditional political machinery that often depends on food parcels and other handouts to win votes.



“I am campaigning without the machinery and I wouldn’t have the support I do if I had it,” Petro recently told reporters.

The centre-right candidate Germán Vargas Lleras of the Radical Change party – who a year ago was thought to be a shoo-in for the presidency – was accused by local residents of bringing in supporters from outside Bogotá to attend his final rally. Meanwhile, images recently circulated on social media showed a ticket system to claim a free lunch at one of Duque’s rallies.

Despite his popularity – particularly with young voters – Petro has faced fierce criticism. He is often seen as high-handed and aloof and was unable to forge bipartisan deals while mayor of Bogotá.

Critics also say he has been hesitant to distance himself from Hugo Chávez - the late Venezuelan president whom he once supported and who is now blamed for that country’s current woes – and the million Venezuelans who have fled to Colombia.

In March, Petro’s motorcade was attacked on its way to a campaign event in Cúcuta, a city near the Venezuelan border, amid rumours of an assassination plot.

The threat of political violence still worries many of his supporters.

“That’s my greatest fear: that they will kill him,” said Villas. “And my greatest hope is that they don’t.”