Fabian Espinel last year helped to organize roadblocks where young people protested against police violence and government plans to increase taxes on lower income Colombians.
Now, as Colombia heads into its presidential election tomorrow, Espinel walks the streets of working-class sectors of Bogota handing out flyers for front-running candidate Gustavo Petro and helps paint murals in support of the leftist politician.
“Young people in this country are stuck,” said Espinel, who lost his job as an event planner during the COVID-19 pandemic and received no compensation from his company. “We hope Petro can change that. We need an economic model that is different than the one that has been failing us for years.”
Photo: AP
Colombians are to pick from six candidates in a ballot being held amid a generalized feeling the nation is heading in the wrong direction.
The latest opinion polls suggest Petro could get 40 percent of the votes, with a 15-point lead over his closest rival, but the senator needs 50 percent to avoid a run-off election next month against the second-placed candidate.
His main rival through most of the campaign has been Federico Gutierrez, a former mayor of Medellin who is backed by most of Colombia’s traditional parties and is running on a pro-business, economic growth platform, but populist real-estate tycoon Rodolfo Hernandez has been rising fast in polls and could challenge for the second spot.
He has few connections to political parties and said he would reduce wasteful government spending and offer rewards for Colombians who denounce corrupt officials.
Petro, a former rebel with anti-establishment rhetoric, promises to make significant adjustments to the economy, as well as change how Colombia fights drug cartels and other armed groups.
His agenda largely centers on fighting inequalities that have affected the South American nation’s people for decades and became worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He has promised government jobs to people who cannot get work, free college tuition for young Colombians and subsidies for farmers who are struggling to grow crops, which he said he would pay for by increasing taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations.
His agenda also touches on issues that could shake up Colombia’s tight-knit relationship with the US.
Adam Isacson, a defense policy expert at think tank Washington Office on Latin America, said that if Petro wins the election “there will be more disagreement and distance” between both nations.
Petro wants to renegotiate a free-trade agreement with the US that has boosted imports of American products such as powdered milk and corn, and instead favor local producers.
He also promises to change how Colombia fights drug cartels that produce about 90 percent of the cocaine sold in the US.
The senator often criticizes US drug policy in the hemisphere, saying it “has failed” because it focuses too much on eradicating illegal crops and arresting kingpins. He wants to boost help for rural areas, to give farmers alternatives to growing coca, the plant used to make cocaine.
Isacson said coca eradication targets could become less of a priority for the Colombian government under a Petro administration, as well as the pace at which drug traffickers who are arrested are sent to the US to face charges.
The election comes as Colombia’s economy struggles to recover from the pandemic and frustration grows with political elites.
A Gallup poll conducted earlier this month said that 75 percent of Colombians believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction and only 27 percent approve of conservative Colombian President Ivan Duque, who cannot run for re-election.
A poll last year by Gallup found that 60 percent of those questioned were finding it hard to get by on their household income.
Sergio Guzman, a political risk analyst in Bogota, said the pandemic and the 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebel group have shifted voters’ priorities.
“Whereas previous elections centered around issues like how to deal with rebel groups, now the main issue is the economy,” Guzman said. “Voters are concerned about who will tackle issues like inequality or the lack of opportunities for youth.”
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