The left-wing coalition Historical Pact launched its campaign for the upcoming legislative elections on March 13 in Colombia. The presidential pre-candidates of the bloc made up of left-wing parties, Afro-descendant movements and indigenous groups in the country.
“It is the resistance of a people that in 2022 will see the dream of change crystallized” against uribismo, assured Gustavo Bolívar, who heads the list for the Colombian Senate. The five presidential candidates of the leftist coalition also participated in the act. On March 13, the members of the chamber of deputies and senators will be defined, as well as the presidential candidate of the leftist bloc. On May 29, Colombians will return to the polls to elect a president in the first round.
The former mayor of Bogota, Gustavo Petro, presidential candidate for Colombia Humana leads the polls as a favorite, although within the block she will have to beat the Afro-Colombian leader and winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize (the Nobel Prize in the environment), France Marquez; the indigenous leader of the Wayú people, Arelis Uriana; and the journalist and ex-governor of Nariño, Camillo Romero.
“Never again will a policy be made without black peoples, indigenous peoples, without peasants, without women, without the LGTBIQ+ community, without the sectors that have historically been oppressed, excluded and violated,” said Afro-Colombian leader Francia Márquez during her speech. “Today that marginalized people stands up to change the page of violence, of injustices”, he added. The candidate also stressed the importance of accompanying the Soy por Somos list to the House of Representatives as an act of justice for the black communities of Colombia
The congresswoman from the leftist bloc and candidate for the Senate, María José Pizarro, also participated in the act where she claimed the plurality of voices in the coalition. “The list of the Historical Pact is with women, it is with youth, it is with art and culture, it is with diversity or it will not be”, said Pizarro, daughter of guerrilla leader Carlos Pizarro, assassinated in 1990. “They cut our most beautiful flowers, we came to tell them that they are never going to kill life in spring again. They told us it was impossible, but here we are to make it real.” : long live Colombia,” stressed the deputy.
While representing the peasant sector, the team of Senate candidate César Pachón pointed out the importance of the leftist political coalition for the workers of the land. “We want the Pact because it has given marginalized people a say, especially in front of women. We are going to fight so that each peasant has the land to work”, according to the newspaper The viewer. For Saade it is about the “first time that Christians support a progressive movement in Colombia”
The candidate for Colombia Humana closed the event with a call to “overthrow the regime of corruption in Colombia.” “That decision space, the Congress that makes the laws of Colombia, today is in the hands of corruption (…)”, Peter stated. “And to overthrow the corruption regime, majorities are needed, it is necessary that the politician and the politician who sits in Congress to make laws (…) belong to the people and the citizens,” he said, quoted by local media.
.