Colombia goes into elections Sunday with a leftist looking to make history
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Colombia may be on the verge of electing its first left-wing president. The frontrunner in Sunday's balloting is Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla turned fighter turned politician. But as John Otis reports from Bogota, the candidate's promises for radical change have alarmed many Colombians.
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GUSTAVO PETRO: (Speaking Spanish).
JOHN OTIS, BYLINE: At his final campaign rally before Sunday's vote, Gustavo Petro gleefully noted that the powers that be in Colombia are cringing at the thought that he could become president.
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PETRO: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: "Of course they're scared," Petro told thousands of supporters in Bogota, the capital. "They're scared because we're going to kick them out of power." Petro once tried to fight his way to power as a member of a guerrilla group called the M-19. The rebels signed a peace treaty in 1990. And since then, Petro has served in Congress and as mayor of Bogota. Now 62, he's on his third run for the presidency.
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PETRO: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: If Petro wins, he would join the leftist presidents who now govern much of Latin America, including Mexico, Peru, Chile and Argentina. Petro promises to hike taxes on the rich to pay for anti-poverty programs. A protectionist, he wants to renegotiate free trade agreements. To forge a greener economy, he wants to phase out the production of oil, the country's biggest export. But all this could provoke capital flight, business closures and massive unemployment, according to many business leaders.
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MIGUEL CORTES: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: That's Miguel Cortes, one of Colombia's biggest businessmen, urging Colombians to vote for anyone but Petro.
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CORTES: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: In a video message to voters, Cortes said, "without a doubt, Colombia has problems, but that's no reason to leap into the void or to risk radical change." Another business owner threatened to fire any of his employees that voted for Petro. Some middle-class Colombians are also worried.
ROXANNE RESTREPO: I've been working all my life. I'm four years from my retirement.
OTIS: That's Roxanne Restrepo, who works in banking and finance in Bogota. She worries about Petro's plan to borrow from private pension funds in order to expand retirement benefits for poor Colombians. And she's not waiting for the election to take action.
RESTREPO: I've been sending some of my savings offshore. And we've been searching to see if we can get Portuguese citizenship, to see if we need to leave the country.
OTIS: She's also concerned about Petro's commitment to democracy. For one thing, Petro intends to forge closer ties to the authoritarian regime in neighboring Venezuela. Sergio Guzman, director of the consulting firm Colombia Risk Analysis, points out that because he would lack a majority in Congress, Petro has talked of passing economic laws by decree.
That freaked a lot of people out.
SERGIO GUZMAN: Yes, it did because not just is he now proposing a radical change in the economy, but he's actually, you know, pressing the nuclear button on what he could potentially do to democracy.
OTIS: Petro has tried to reassure the doubters.
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PETRO: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: Amid rumors that he plans to seize private property once in the presidency, he held a news conference at a notary public, where he signed a document pledging not to expropriate farms and businesses. And in an interview with NPR, Petro said he would pursue common-sense policies to tackle poverty, which shot up to 42% during the pandemic.
PETRO: (Speaking Spanish).
OTIS: "These are normal things," Petro said, speaking on Zoom. "But in Colombia, they are seen as leftist and revolutionary." Many frustrated Colombians agree with Petro. Polls show Petro with a large lead over five other candidates. However, if he fails to garner more than half of the ballots on Sunday, as polls are indicating, there will be a runoff between the two top candidates on June 19. John Otis, NPR News, Bogota.
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