Who did Petro and Márquez thank for their triumph in Colombia?
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(CNN Spanish) --
Roy Leonardo Barreras, a doctor and sociologist with a long career in the Colombian Congress for Valle del Cauca, would be the new president of the Senate.
A tour of Congress
In 2006, Roy Barreras was elected to the House of Representatives for the department of western Colombia and four years later to the Senate.
Since then he has held a seat in the upper house for the Social Party of National Unity, according to information from the Legislative Directory.
In his years of legislative career, Roy Barreras has been characterized by his support for different presidents: he first supported Álvaro Uribe with his flag of democratic security in the first decade of the century.
Then he was key to promoting the agenda of the peace agreements of Juan Manuel Santos.
He is now one of Gustavo Petro's traditional political bishops in his proposed change, along with his partner Armando Benedetti.
In these 2022 elections, he joined the Historical Pact, the coalition of seven parties and movements with which Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez came to power, and the most voted group.
He was elected senator again, this time under this new party, which had a closed list, and Barreras was in fifth position.
This Thursday the Historical Pact designated him as its candidate for the presidency of the Senate and it is expected that as soon as he assumes the new legislature he will assume that role as representative of the government party and the movement with the most votes in the legislative elections in March.
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He had already held the position of president of Congress in 2012.
"Since 2014 he has been dedicated to the peace process," he says in a biography of him on the Visible Congress page of the Universidad de los Andes, noting that he assumed the presidency of the Peace Commission of the upper house in 2011. In the framework of this task "assumed the task of carrying forward transcendental laws" such as the one that established the Special Jurisdiction for Peace.
(Credit: Roy Barrera's official Facebook account)
Barreras has a specialization in International Human Rights Law from the Alfonso X El Sabio University in Spain and a Master's Degree in Spanish and Latin American Literature from the University of Barcelona.
He worked, before starting his political career, as a taxi driver and a baker, according to the cited biography.
He is married and has five children.
In the presidential elections his name was widely mentioned after the disclosure by some media of some videos from 2021 in which Barreras, at a Petro campaign meeting, outlined strategies to attack the rivals of the Historical Pact candidate, which was heavily criticized.
This Friday, Humberto de la Calle, who served as a negotiator between the Government and the extinct FARC guerrilla, published a message about Barreras on networks, at a time when his candidacy to preside over Congress was being discussed.
"I am one of those who thanks and will thank Roy Barreras for his invaluable contribution to peace. I hope to collaborate with him in the application of the agreements," he wrote.
The role of the President of the Senate in Colombia
In Colombia, the presidents of both chambers are elected for a period of one year and, as stated on the Legislative website, they cannot assume that responsibility again in the same constitutional period.
The person who presides over the Senate is also the president of Congress, so he is in charge of convening and presiding over plenary sessions and representing the Legislative Power.
As president of the Senate, he will be in charge of putting the presidential sash on Gustavo Petro when he assumes the presidency on August 7.
With information from Sebastián Jiménez.
Elections ColombiaGustavo Petro