First presidential debate: these are the proposals of Ingrid Betancourt, Gustavo Petro and Fico

Colombian candidates Ingrid Betancourt, Gustavo Petro and Federico Gutiérrez, held a heated debate, the first after last Sunday's presidential consultations, in which they discussed various issues such as the relationship with the US. Health and Agriculture.

In the debate, organized by the newspaper El Tiempo and the magazine Semana, the candidates attacked each other for the support they received in the campaign for the elections on May 29, in which the former mayors of Medellín, Sergio Fajardo and Bucaramanga, Rodolfo Hernández, will also participate.

One of the highlights of the discussion came when Betancourt, candidate of the Green Oxygen party, recriminated Petro, who won the consultation of the leftist Historic Pact with more than 4.4 million votes, the election of Piedad Córdoba as senator for that movement.

Last month, through an investigation by Noticias Caracol, a statement was made to the Prosecutor's Office of Andrés Vásquez, former advisor of Córdoba, in which he assured that some 15 years ago politics “would have politically capitalized on the handing over of abductees to the point of getting the releases of Ingrid Betancourt and the three American contractors will be delayed.” According to that version, Cordoba wanted to give credit for the release of the kidnapped to the then Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez, so that, in turn, he would “catapult” her into the Colombian Presidency.

“I shudder because there are very corrupt characters on their lists, accused of having been processors of the kidnapping (...) And now, through this alliance with Petro, this kind of consent is won to have a special jurisdiction and that is unworthy,” Betancourt reproached.

Gutiérrez, who won the right-wing squad for Colombia's candidacy with 2.1 million votes, said that after Sunday's votes he has “one foot in the second round.” “We become a political reality today for the country, but my call for all those forces that represent the defense of democracy and freedoms is that we can reach the first round together and win in the first round,” he said. In the same vein, Petro assured that “the Historical Pact consultation reached 47% of the total (votes) of the consultations,” which makes it feasible to win the votes needed to win in the first round.

“We have to expand ourselves further, we cannot be proud. One can be humble and accept that more people, more social forces, more political forces, all democratic. The only ones that do not fit here are the corrupt, the genocidal, of the rest every Colombian or Colombian who wants to have a productive or peaceful country, fits in this effort,” he said.

Another striking topic of the discussion was the candidates' proposal regarding Colombia's relationship with the US. Department of Education, to which Petro responded that climate change issues should be included on the agenda and that there must be a change in drug policy. He explained that the new drug policy must “guarantee food security in Colombia, which is essential for the absence of coca leaf producers” and that the existing free trade agreement between the two countries must be renegotiated.

Gutierrez replied that Colombia must take advantage of the food needs of the United States. Department of Commerce to export “quality products” to that country to boost economic growth. Betancourt, meanwhile, proposed the signing of a regional “agreement for progress” with drug trafficking and migration as its main axes.

“From drug trafficking we have to conclude that after 40 years of war against drug trafficking we have to introduce him to the United States. A proposal that is to work together to decriminalize drug use, so that we can end drug trafficking rents,” he said.

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