The Colombian electoral campaign is advancing towards the terrain of the unknown. Ingrid Betancourt’s decision to leave the centrist coalition that she helped create has further complicated the already convoluted political scene. Four months after the first round of the presidential elections, on May 29, the feeling in the country is that nobody understands anything.
The group of politicians that had been erected from the center with the banner of good sense against the extremes advances in its process of devouring itself and blowing up its options to the delight of its competitors. The right and the left, without needing to do anything, are getting rid of an uncomfortable contender in the race for the presidency. The improbability of the situation is recognized by the protagonists themselves. “Not that we were working for them. It’s crazy,” he told the newspaper. Time Humberto de la Calle, the coalition candidate for the Senate.
Ingrid Betancourt’s decision to run independently for her own party, announced last Saturday, is the latest episode in a chain of disagreements that have prevented the center from entering the electoral campaign. For months the coalition has been absorbed in its own problems, which have been many, but this last one is becoming the biggest of all. Besides, no one saw it coming.
Barely two months ago, Betancourt ruled out his candidacy for the presidency, but his figure had already become key in the coalition. His work became essential to bring together the egos of politicians, all men, who took months to agree to unite under the same acronym. Her work was endorsed by all the candidates, who pointed to her as a symbol of reconciliation in Colombia and even gave her the microphone to publicly announce the agreement to attend together under the baptized Coalition Centro Esperanza.
The union of the center, Betancourt said at the time and the polls maintain, is necessary if you want to have a chance of winning at the polls. Dispersing the vote around several candidates is political suicide, as was already demonstrated in 2018, when the then leader of the coalition Sergio Fajardo was left at the gates of the second round for not forging alliances.
Just two weeks ago, Betancourt unexpectedly announced his candidacy for the presidency. It was not what was expected, but his step forward was applauded by his classmates, who also defended themselves against criticism of having formed a white men’s club. The candidate, who spent six years kidnapped in the jungle by the FARC, then became the protagonist.
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Everything began to blow up in the electoral debate organized by Time Y Week some days ago. The meeting brought together ten presidential candidates from the right, the center and the left, there was someone to attack, but the biggest clash occurred between coalition partners. Betancourt publicly showed his concern about the political support that former Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria was receiving. “I’m not going to let the wolves get where the sheep are,” he warned her. The economist responded angrily. The axis of Betancourt’s speech has always been focused on the fight against corruption and the need to reach the presidency without electoral machinery.
The public calls for calm among the coalition partners through Twitter, where part of the Colombian campaign is played, followed one another, but the controversy did not stop increasing. Last Thursday, politics summoned the urgent press and issued an ultimatum to the rest of the candidates: “If the coalition does not make the decision to prohibit the support of people linked to machinery that leads to corruption and if the decision is not made tonight, with a lot of pain, but with the commitment that I have with the Colombians, I am retiring”.
The night passed and nothing happened. So she extended the ultimatum to 24 hours. The rest of the candidates tried to settle the matter on Saturday by way of the middle, publishing a document in which they promised to close the doors to the machinery, but without separating Gaviria. There it was Betancourt who decided to break with everything. She consummated her divorce from the center she had fought so hard to unite.
The media has been frantically searching for her ever since. So much so that this Monday she only promised to attend this newspaper by answering a few questions in writing. Meanwhile, she participated in an interview on the RCN television channel that has set fire to a controversy that was already hot. Betancourt had to point out with whom of all the candidates she was willing to make alliances. She explained that it all depended on whether or not they had machinery. The first thing he did was say a quick no to the left-wing leader Gustavo Petro, and then a yes to Rodolfo Hernández, the 76-year-old former mayor of Bucaramanga, unknown to most, politically indefinable, but who through a fierce campaign in Facebook, Twitter and Tik Tok is positioning itself in the polls.
Then it was his turn to point out Óscar Iván Zuluaga, the Uribe candidate. The conversation went as follows:
– I need your help. Question: Does Óscar Iván Zuluaga have machinery that supports him?
– Well, he is the candidate of Uribismo, but we do not want to influence this, you have to decide that, the driver replied.
Betancourt then put a question to him. He did so with almost everyone until he reached his former teammates. Sergio Fajardo, with whom until two days ago he closed ranks seamlessly, he also questioned. Gaviria was directly awarded a no. The declaration of war was underway.
When the networks were already making the moment viral, Betancourt responded in writing to the questions of EL PAÍS, which, answered after so many hours, had already become out of date. “I know that I made a decision according to myself. If this decision gives Colombians the strength to free themselves from corruption, it will be the best decision of my life”, assured the candidate.
From the center the pre-candidates try to compose themselves to this unexpected stake. The adversaries rub their hands. On March 13, consultations will be held to define the candidates of each coalition. The next polls will measure the pull of Betancourt, who is criticized by many for having lived outside of Colombia for 12 years and who does not enjoy much sympathy in the country. A poll published last week gave him 4.1% of the support within the Coalición Centro Esperanza, far behind Sergio Fajardo (41.6%), Alejandro Gaviria (22.1%) or Juan Manuel Galán (15, 7%). We will have to wait for how it goes alone. In the center there is no coalition and no hope.
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