Q REPORTS – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has not yet ruled on the victory of progressive Gustavo Petro in Sunday’s elections, but his far-right base has already included Colombia on the list of “communist” countries.
Legislator Eduardo Bolsonaro, one of the sons of the ruler, was one of the most explicit and published on his social networks a map of South America in which Colombia was marked with the symbol of the hammer and sickle, after it was confirmed that it has been the first electoral victory of the left in that country.
With that emblem, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina are also identified on the map, which, with their many nuances, are governed by leftist leaders.
A responsabilidade do eleitor brasileiro só aumenta. Já não é mais “tão somente” pelo Brasil, é por toda a região. pic.twitter.com/98y1XaEfGq
— Eduardo Bolsonaro🇧🇷 (@BolsonaroSP) June 20, 2022
“The responsibility of the Brazilian voter increases. It is no longer just for Brazil, it is for the entire region,” Bolsonaro’s son wrote, in a clear allusion to the elections next October in the country, in which his father aspires to re-election although all the polls give Bolsonaro as the favorite. progressive Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
In the same sense, the advisor for International Affairs of the Brazilian Presidency, Filipe Martins, another of the ideologues of the ultra-conservative movement that supports Bolsonaro, also expressed himself on social networks.
“Faced with the advance of the extreme left in Latin America, with successive victories at the Sao Paulo Forum, our responsibility as Brazilians is greater. May God have mercy on us and give us the conditions to protect our country and our people,” said Bolsonaro’s collaborator.
In the second round of the elections held this Sunday, Petro obtained 50.44% of the votes, compared to 47.31% achieved by the populist Rodolfo Hernández, a businessman who presented himself as an independent under the umbrella of the League of Governors Anti-corruption movement.
What is expected of Petro in Colombia?
The senator and former guerrilla fighter, Gustavo Petro, came to power in Colombia with promises of greater equality and income redistribution. In that sense, investors in Colombia are looking to gauge how radical a government headed by Gustavo Petro will be when he takes office on August 7.
Petro won the ballot and became the first leftist president of Colombia. Some of his plans will be relatively simple to implement, such as firing the management of Colombia’s state oil company. Other proposals, such as taxing wealthy landowners and declaring a state of economic emergency, will be limited by strong institutions like Congress and the Constitutional Court.
While there could be instability in the financial markets with Petro leading the way in Colombia, few investors are betting that Colombia will follow Venezuela’s footsteps into hyperinflation, expropriations and debt defaults.
Petro was born in Ciénaga de Oro, department of Córdoba (north), has five children and is married to Verónica Alcocer, who during this campaign has been very active on social networks and in the media supporting Petro’s purpose, who during his youth was a member of the M-19 guerrilla group, which emerged in 1970 after irregularities in the presidential elections.
Having been a member of a subversive group is what a large part of Colombian society does not forgive him for, despite the fact that his participation was never armed and that he was the one who promoted the disarmament of this guerrilla group that later led to the drafting of the Political Constitution de Colombia in 1991, which he also helped build.
Who is Francia Márquez?
Francia Elena Márquez Mina is an Afro-Colombian human-rights and environmental activist and lawyer, who is the vice president-elect of Colombia. She was born in Yolombó, a village in the Cauca Department. She first became an activist at 13, when construction of a dam threatened her community.
Four years ago, Francia Márquez won the Goldman Prize, called the “Green Nobel”, for her fight against mining that was destroying the black community of La Toma, in her homeland of Cauca.
