The political history of Colombia, like that of all other South American nations, has been marked by evident political turmoil. During the second half of the twentieth century, the country remained consistently tied, at the institutional level, to what can be described as Bogotá’s traditional conservative alignment with Washington. But what was the reason for this?
Soviet influence over various Latin American “fifth columns” in a sense pushed the South American country to seek refuge in the economic, political, and strategic support of the United States, ensuring a pro-American political continuity that stigmatized and excluded from traditional political participation any progressive—or, more broadly, non-conservative—alternative.
As unlikely as more than seventy years of political continuity may seem in a democratic context, the violence carried out by the various armed groups belonging to the FARC consolidated in public opinion the perception of a need for institutions capable of opposing the guerrilla. This clearly explains the persistent dominance of traditional Colombian politics throughout the twentieth century and up to the present day.
In the 2022 presidential elections, this stability—or rather, political linearity—came to an end: the election of Gustavo Petro marked a clear turning point in Colombia’s political history. The rise of the first non-conservative president has raised numerous questions about the relationships Bogotá intends to establish with guerrilla groups that are still active and, above all, in an increasingly multipolar context both in Latin America and in the rest of the world, has prompted several questions about the role Colombia intends to play on the regional stage. But what are these doubts?
Who Gustavo Petro is?
Gustavo Petro was born in Ciénaga de Oro on April 19, 1960, and later moved with his family, at a very young age, to Zipaquirá, his mother’s hometown. Described by those who know him as introverted, apathetic, devoted to books, and possessing a strong passion for chess, he studied in a public school run by parish priests—the same institution attended by his favorite writer, Nobel Prize–winning author Gabriel García Márquez.
From an early age, he showed an interest in politics: at just sixteen, he took part in numerous trade union assemblies and became involved in circles of working-class socialism. At seventeen, he joined the urban guerrilla movement M-19; meanwhile, he moved between Zipaquirá and Bogotá, where he studied economics at the Universidad Externado.
A turning point in his life was the terrorist attack carried out by M-19 at the Colombian Palace of Justice in November 1985. During the assault, 101 people were killed, but Petro’s participation was never established, as at the time he was reportedly detained on charges of conspiracy and, according to his own statements, subjected to torture.
In 1987 he was released and, a few years later, resumed his militancy within the armed movement. In 1990, M-19 was dissolved, and Petro began a conventional political career, joining the M-19 Democratic Alliance, a political party formed out of the dissolution of the armed group. Through this movement, he secured a seat in the Chamber of Representatives for the province of Cundinamarca, the region where he had grown up.
At the age of thirty-five, he became the target of persecution and threats. In coordination with Bogotá’s political leadership, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Belgium, where he held a minor position at the Colombian Embassy in Brussels from 1994 to 1996. During his time in Europe, he attended the Catholic University of Leuven, where he encountered European ecological thought, influences he would later integrate into his political vision.
Upon returning to Colombia, Petro was re-elected as a representative for Cundinamarca, initially focusing on provincial politics. However, the real turning point in his political career came in 2011, when he was elected mayor of Bogotá. His tenure in the capital proved particularly turbulent. As mayor, Petro attempted to introduce a socially oriented administrative model, with particular attention to the most vulnerable segments of the population.
Notably, he also sought to municipalize the urban waste collection system, which until then had been managed by private operators. Following the city administration’s efforts to end the private monopoly, numerous strikes occurred, leading Bogotá into a full-blown social crisis related to waste management. As a result, a disciplinary investigation was launched, and he was removed from office for alleged administrative shortcomings. Petro appealed to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which ordered his reinstatement, marking a significant political victory that placed him at the center of Colombia’s political scene.
Building on the political popularity consolidated during his time as mayor, Gustavo Petro ran for president for the second time in 2018. Unlike his first attempt in 2010, he managed to reach the runoff, where he faced centrist candidate Iván Duque Márquez. Although the results did not grant him the keys to the Casa de Nariño, the experience established Petro as the leading figure of Colombia’s progressive left.
In 2021, ahead of the 2022 presidential elections, the center-left party coalition formed the so-called Pacto Histórico por Colombia, a political alliance between the historic Polo Democrático Alternativo and various groups of Colombian democratic socialism. Petro easily led the first round with over 40% of the vote, establishing the coalition as the country’s main political force. In the runoff, he faced construction entrepreneur Rodolfo Hernández Suárez, an independent center-right candidate. The final results confirmed Petro’s election as the first progressive president in Colombia’s history—an historic milestone that broke the political status quo of a traditionally conservative country.
From left to right: a traumatic or natural shift?
The election of Gustavo Petro as President of Colombia in 2022 represented a historic turning point for the country. This change was welcomed with enthusiasm by broad segments of the population, yet at the same time it generated deep distrust among economic elites, business circles, and the more conservative sectors of Colombian society.
The main concerns stemmed from Petro’s political past, as a former member of the guerrilla movement M-19 in his youth—an element that for years fueled a public narrative portraying him as a figure potentially inclined toward authoritarian or radical tendencies. These concerns were compounded by fears related to his strongly critical rhetoric toward Colombia’s traditional ruling classes, as well as the possibility that his government might significantly alter the economic and geopolitical balances consolidated over previous decades.
Despite accusations of radicalism from his opponents, Petro’s political program presented itself from the outset as a reformist rather than a revolutionary project. The central objective of his economic agenda was not the subversion of Colombia’s capitalist order, but rather the structural transformation of the country’s productive model. Petro identified Colombia’s heavy dependence on the extractive sector—particularly oil and coal—as one of the main obstacles to its economic development, considering such a model incapable of ensuring sustainable growth in the long term. For this reason, he proposed a gradual diversification of the Colombian economy through investments in the industrial, agricultural, and technological sectors, accompanied by greater attention to ecological transition and environmental sustainability.
Rather than a traumatic ideological rupture, Petro’s rise can therefore be interpreted as an attempt to adapt Colombia to the new economic and social demands of the twenty-first century, albeit within a context of strong political polarization that continues to shape the national debate.
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