Fico Gutiérrez said he will seek to expand his alliances with traditional sectors of Colombian politics

On Sunday, March 13, the results of the coalitions consultations were announced, in the Team for Colombia the big winner was the former mayor of Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez, with a vote very close to two million voters. His candidacy has even become one of the strongest of the Colombian right, so much so that the candidate of Uribism, Oscar Iván Zuluaga, announced his renunciation of presidential aspirations to join the Paisa leader.

Since it seems that it gathers a large number of followers and that many believe it could be one of the most likely to compete against Gustavo Petro, who has positioned himself as the favorite in the polls to reach Casa de Nariño, he has started to carry out a campaign focused on creating alliances with all possible sectors. One of the first approaches he tried to make was with the Centro Esperanza Coalition, where his candidate is Sergio Fajardo, former mayor of Medellín and former governor of Antioquia, but without much thought the center team's response was negative.

Now after two days of his triumph, this March 15 in the morning hours, he shared a statement on his social networks in which he announced that his focus will be the “national dialogue” to defend “democracy and freedoms, so I call on all people and movement to join his proposal and vision of the country.

In the document, the candidate announced that he is looking for meetings and began by naming traditional sectors of politics that are being led by former presidents and politicians who have been in other governments such as: the Liberal Party, led by Cesar Gaviria, the Conservative Party, led by Andrés Pastrana, the Cambio party Radical, led by Germán Vargas Lleras and the Democratic Center, which seems to already have support from part of the movement and is led by Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

In addition, it also lists pensioners 'associations, teachers' associations, unions, compensation funds, cooperative sector, cultural sector, Christian groups, Catholic groups, production guilds, active reserve of the Armed Forces, active reserve of the National Police, women's organizations, LGBTIQ+ organizations, victims' organizations; and who until Sunday were candidates from other coalitions.

“We are going to start here, consolidating the defense of a democracy that does exist and that we have to take care of. We will continue, then, to look for other sectors with which, I am convinced, we will find fundamental issues to agree on such as education, protection against old age, the model of comprehensive security, among others, and, in particular, the defense of the State. In our hands is the present and future of Colombia”, the press release reads.

María Fernanda Cabal talks about the candidate of the Team for Colombia

In an interview with RCN Mundo, María Fernanda Cabal pointed out that she needs to clarify her doubts with the former mayor of Medellín, because she believes that it is a risk that represents the continuity of the current government and that for now she has no clear position on whether she will join this campaign.

“My fear is that Federico Gutiérrez will be a Duke Two. I want to clear my doubts, I have questions to ask you. If it reaches the contest and we have to face a radical left, we are obviously going to have to accompany the opposing candidate,” Cabal told the Colombian broadcaster and noted that it wants to be sure of the position to take because it does not want to put its voters at risk.

He added that he is waiting for decisions to be made within the party so that he can give his definitive opinion on the candidate of the Team for Colombia: “Today we have a meeting at the Democratic Center because we have to make decisions regardless of Oscar Iván Zuluaga's personal decision. The party has to decide what it is going to do, if it is expected and leaves its constituents free. The country first above one, of the votes,” said the senator.

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