An image taken from the video in which the Liberal Party announces its support for Federico Gutiérrez.
The Liberal Party joins the campaign of the right-wing candidate for the presidency of Colombia, Federico
Fico
Gutierrez.
This Wednesday the leader of the formation, César Gaviria, made the official announcement and put an end to speculation about which candidate would receive the coveted support of the movement, for which the leftist Gustavo Petro also knocked on the door.
Gaviria had been empowered on Tuesday afternoon by the Senate and House benches to choose the person for whom they would force themselves in the elections on May 29, and it was not a surprise that just a few hours later it was confirmed that it would be Federico Gutierrez.
For weeks, it has been heard about his possible adhesion to the former mayor of Medellín, especially after some statements by Petro's vice-presidential formula, Francia Márquez, questioned the liberal chief,
and he will react by announcing the breaking off of talks with the Historical Pact, the movement led by Petro.
Today, in a video published on social networks, Gaviria appears next to Gutiérrez and confirms that he is the presidential candidate of his party.
"We have found a huge number of coincidences between the things that the document that I presented at the meeting of [Liberal] parliamentarians says with what they have worked on as a program in the Fico campaign," says Gaviria in the video.
The Liberal Party defined several points to which Federico Gutiérrez should commit in order to receive its support: basic income for 36 million Colombians, full compliance with the peace process, justice reform, strengthening of the educational system, respecting the right to protest, among others.
The liberal proposals were accepted and included in the agenda of the conservative candidate who could not miss the opportunity to endorse the votes of a traditional party, which has a strong regional structure,
that it has a faithful electorate and that it obtained the largest number of seats in the Chamber in the legislative elections held on March 13.
The support of the liberals is desired by any candidate who aspires to reach the presidency of Colombia.
Petro knows this and that is why he has been one of the first to react to the announcement, even before it was official.
“César Gaviria decided to stick to his logic.
Joining with neoliberalism, with that of turning business rights… he will make an alliance with those who place the mafia at the forefront of security.
Unfortunate, but I respect it, ”said the leftist candidate in a video in which he called on the liberal bases to rebel against the decision of the community and support his candidacy.
The support of the liberals is desired by any candidate who aspires to reach the presidency of Colombia.
Petro knows this and that is why he has been one of the first to react to the announcement, even before it was official.
“César Gaviria decided to stick to his logic.
Joining with neoliberalism, with that of turning business rights… he will make an alliance with those who place the mafia at the forefront of security.
Unfortunate, but I respect it, ”said the leftist candidate in a video in which he called on the liberal bases to rebel against the decision of the community and support his candidacy.
The support of the liberals is desired by any candidate who aspires to reach the presidency of Colombia.
Petro knows this and that is why he has been one of the first to react to the announcement, even before it was official.
“César Gaviria decided to stick to his logic.
Joining with neoliberalism, with that of turning business rights… he will make an alliance with those who place the mafia at the forefront of security.
Unfortunate, but I respect it, ”said the leftist candidate in a video in which he called on the liberal bases to rebel against the decision of the community and support his candidacy.
Joining with neoliberalism, with that of turning business rights... will make an alliance with those who place the mafia at the forefront of security.
Unfortunate, but I respect it, ”said the leftist candidate in a video in which he called on the liberal bases to rebel against the decision of the community and support his candidacy.
Joining with neoliberalism, with that of turning business rights... will make an alliance with those who place the mafia at the forefront of security.
Unfortunate, but I respect it, ”said the leftist candidate in a video in which he called on the liberal bases to rebel against the decision of the community and support his candidacy.
Liberals who see Fico's adherence as a contradiction and an outrage against their principles have challenged the leader of the community.
In a letter, congressmen and militants of that political current have rejected César Gaviria's decision and have announced their support for Gustavo Petro.
“We proclaim our support for the aspiration of Senator Gustavo Petro to the presidency of the Republic.
Our adherence to this candidacy is mediated by the signing of a political and programmatic agreement that safeguards in a progressive liberal government the ideas and institutions that are the foundation of the Political Constitution of 1991, that guarantees respect for property and seeks transformation democratic and an economic model that generates wealth and collective prosperity”, they say in the document.
The former Liberal president, Ernesto Samper, has also gone against the decision of the community that he has always represented: “The shameful decision of the @PartidoLiberal to ally with the neoliberal Uribe right is an insult to its historical tradition of defending values such as peace and social justice.
In addition, it contradicts its Statutes that assign such responsibility to the Party Convention”.
Four years ago, the liberals gave their support to Iván Duque and today, when they announce their support for Federico Gutiérrez, the same members of the movement remember it as a "mistake" that is repeated this time with the support of the former mayor of Medellín.
Congressman Juan Carlos Losada has strongly questioned that, once again, the community takes sides with a candidate who does not represent liberal values.
“Tripping over the same stone twice is unacceptable;
Tracing the mistakes of the past is not an attitude that is compatible with the legitimate desire for change that is already felt in almost all spheres of Colombian society.
The Liberal Party's support for Federico Gutiérrez's candidacy will mean a sad renunciation of the ideals of a party that had been at the forefront of the social transformation of our country.
Gutiérrez's candidacy represents a model of society that intends to leave unscathed the fundamental reasons that unleashed the social explosion;
it also means a political model of representation that must be part of the past and that citizens have already been able to reject, with all force, in the streets and at the polls,” Losada wrote in a statement.
Gaviria, meanwhile, has tried to disassociate himself from what has been the Duque government and in the document announcing his support for Fico, he questions the president.
“What we have [the proposals] is going to serve this country to reduce a discontent that the country justifiably has, because not only because of the pandemic but because of other circumstances, people are suffering a lot, many more poor have been generated and in many houses there is no food (...
Federico Gutiérrez, who has refused to openly accept the support of Uribism in the face of the fall in the image of former President Álvaro Duque, has not done the same with liberalism.
"I thank former President Gaviria and the Liberal Party, because after analyzing the programmatic document for a few hours against what should be the social transformations that Colombia needs, there is a great coincidence in our government program," said the right-wing candidate. .
The image of him next to César Gaviria was one of the photos that he most expected.
While Petro consolidates and maintains the lead, according to the recent poll by the National Consulting Center, the blessing of the Liberals gives Fico the breathing space he so badly needs in a campaign that has not yet found full seats.
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS América newsletter and receive all the key information on current affairs in the region.