Gustavo Petro’s victory in the Colombian presidential elections has been a historic milestone for the country’s left. And it is that this political sector had never come to govern the Andean nation. The explanation is based on several factors that have historically hindered the rise of the left: its marginalization, its persecution, the genocide and the context of the armed conflict in the country.
Gustavo Petro’s victory in the presidential elections in Colombia has been highly publicized due to its historical character. And it is not for less, since the left had never managed to win an election in the more than 210 years of the Andean nation. But, what has made Colombia an exceptionality in Latin America during all this time, not having had left-wing governments?
To find the answer, we must attend to its traditional political system. Since the 19th century, Colombian politics has been dominated by two parties: the Conservative and the Liberal. A closed system where violence dominated on several occasions and where the voices of change were always viewed with suspicion.
A political system reluctant to change
The first of these differential voices was that of the liberal caudillo Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, a politician who was especially in tune with the working class. His popularity grew during the 1940s, eventually running as a real choice for the presidency. But on April 9, 1948 he was killed by three shots.
His death shocked Bogotá. Thousands of angry people took to the streets to protest against the attack. An unprecedented popular revolt -known as the ‘Bogotazo’- that would devastate the capital in just a few hours and that would end the lives of between 500 and 3,000 people. The violence replicated throughout the country for years and would end only with a political agreement between Liberals and Conservatives.
These agreements were made under the framework of the Benidorm Pacts of 1956. In this Spanish town, the Colombian liberal and conservative leadership agreed to create a National Front that would end the violence between the two parties and that would allow a political relay that would exchange the power between the two formations. But this also meant the total marginalization of any left current from the parliamentary system, something that would have consequences.
The National Front was in force between 1958 and 1974, bringing to power two liberals and two conservatives. But while this was taking place in the capital, various armed leftist groups opposed to the system were formed in several Colombian regions.
The rise of the guerrillas
This is how the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) emerged in 1964, the National Liberation Army (ELN) in 1965, the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) in 1967 and the April 19 Movement (M-19) in 1973. Guerrillas that, over time, they would see their influence grow.
During the following decades, the armed conflict intensified and the power of these guerrillas over vast regions of the country increased. This question inevitably made Colombian society begin to associate any type of leftist movement with the armed insurgency and the rejection of these increased. Getting to create paramilitary groups financed by large landowners in the country, whose initial objective was the fight against these guerrillas.
The situation forced successive liberal and conservative governments to dialogue with these groups, with the aim of putting an end to the violence and guaranteeing their integration into politics, especially starting in the 1980s.
This is how the Patriotic Union emerged in 1985, a political formation that was part of a peace proposal between the government of Belisario Betancur and the FARC. Or as in 1990, the M-19 was established as a party after the signing of a peace agreement with the Government of Virgilio Barco.
Persecution and political genocide
However, these approaches did not bring improvements. Although these new parties tried to join democratic life, their leaders were persecuted and killed for years by paramilitary groups and state forces. Assassinations of presidential candidates such as Jaime Pardo Leal and Bernardo Jaramillo, of the Patriotic Union, or Carlos Pizarro, of the April 19 Movement, marked Colombian politics.
Assassinations to which was added in 1989 that of Luis Carlos Galán, a member of the Liberal Party who, although he did not have a guerrilla past, was also shot for having a progressive thought.
But this persecution was not only aimed at the leaders, but also at the base militancy. Numerous politicians and activists were singled out during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. In fact, the persecution of the Patriotic Union left 5,733 victims in just a few years and is considered by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace in Colombia to be political genocide.
Recrudence of the conflict
This issue fueled the conflict. And although the Government of Andrés Pastrana tried to negotiate with the FARC in 1999, these rapprochements ultimately proved unsuccessful, since during the period of detente the guerrillas took the opportunity to reorganize and rearm, instead of betting on peace.
A situation that degenerated into more violence and led Álvaro Uribe to the presidency in 2002. During his term, a frontal confrontation with the guerrillas was opted for, which produced an increase in victims, but also caused these armed groups to lose strength. In the following years, new approaches were made that did end in the historic signing of a peace agreement with the FARC in 2016 under the Government of Juan Manuel Santos.
Peace brought political change to Colombia
An event that removed from the Colombian political equation the armed conflict that had plagued the country for decades.
Something that has benefited the left, since it has seen how its parliamentary presence has grown despite the fact that, in recent years, the right has dominated the Government in Colombia.
Postures such as the defense of peace and a more plural political system have convinced millions of Colombians, especially when they observed that peace was possible, albeit partially. Reasons that, without a doubt, have contributed to the historic rise to the presidency of Gustavo Petro in 2022.
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