The Historical Pact also added the support of Griselda Restrepo, former Minister of Labor, who highlighted the respect of this campaign towards women
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The official led the Ministry of the Interior of Juan Manuel Santos during his last year in office.
The candidate for the Presidency of Colombia for the left-wing coalition Historical Pact, Gustavo Petro, continues to gain support for the second round on June 19, in which he will face the controversial Rodolfo Hernández, a center-right candidate associated with the Liga de Anticorruption Leaders.
On this occasion, from the Colombian Congress, the senator added the support of Griselda Restrepo, former leader of Sergio Fajardo’s campaign in Valle del Cauca, and Guillermo Rivera Flórez, former campaign manager for the same candidate and former Minister of the Interior in the government of Juan Manuel Santos.
Through a video on social networks, Rivera said that he trusts Fajardo for being “a man of integrity, ethics and a true democrat”; but, given the current scenario, he felt “ the duty to make a decision and make it public. My decisions have always been guided by my convictions and by my unwavering defense of peace and human rights.”
The former minister said that he has “some differences about the vision of development that Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez have”, but that for him it is important that both have been defenders of human rights, of the Political Constitution of 1991 and of the peace agreements with the FARC guerrilla, now demobilized.
In addition, he said that Petro has been a true fighter against parapolitics and corruption since his seat in Congress. “His fight has taken place in a democracy despite attempts to silence him,” he added.
To his message he added a story of his family and personal life:
“In 1940, my grandmother traveled from Barbacoas, on the Pacific coast, to Putumayo in the company of my father, who was barely three years old. They fled from poverty, lack of opportunities and access to rural property. That Putumayo and that Pacific coast from which I come, plunged into poverty, institutional abandonment and tormented by violence, voted more than 70% for Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez,” he said.
He also said that in Bogotá, “the city that sheltered me with affection and generosity”, also voted mostly for them, so he will do the same on June 19.
From Congress, Rivera added that if Colombia wants to become a modern and democratic country, “it has to recognize women’s rights. Women must be in government, women must be sovereign, women must have all the possibilities in this societyto exercise their rights and must be respected by all”. For this reason, both he and Restrepo were encouraged to join the campaign.
Griselda Restrepo, from Valle del Cauca, who has been a member of the legislature and was the last Minister of Labor, also spoke in this regard. by Juan Manuel Santos. She assured that women have participated in public positions with effort and that Petro’s campaign guarantees that the voice they have won is respected.
“We want to be with the scenes of power and < b>we believe that this campaign represents that: respect for women, those rights of women who, like my mother, sitting at the sewing machine, raised her children in the popular neighborhood. The battered women in Colombia today do not want to be told to stay at home: we want to go out and take care of our rights, we want to continue talking about our demands. We want to continue talking about education, health and opportunities for our children,” added the liberal politician. .