Sergio Fajardo leaves alone in the campaign and rules out alliance with Federico Gutiérrez

This Monday, March 14, after the results of the inter-party consultations were known, it can be said that the 2022 presidential campaign in Colombia officially began. They begin to talk about possible alliances and one of the strongest candidates on the right and in the center is speculated among them: Federico 'Fico' Gutiérrez and Sergio Fajardo, respectively. However, the latter denied the rumors.

In dialogue with Blu Radio, Fajardo assured that he will not join Fico and that he hasn't even thought about it. He points out that the representative of the right is a “synonym of continuity”, both of the current government of Iván Duque, and directly with Uribism.

Hours after Fajardo's position was known, Oscar Iván Zuluaga announced his withdrawal from the electoral contest and made his addition to Gutierrez's campaign official. It should be recalled that Zuluaga would represent the Democratic Center, the current governing party.

This news confirms, as had been said before the consultations, that Gutiérrez is the candidate of Uribism. Thus, if Fajardo also decides to withdraw and support him, it means a betrayal of his center flags, because the politician has been severe in claiming that he does not share the positions of the extremes.

It should be noted that, beyond being right, center or left, Fajardo also holds positions very different from Gutiérrez on controversial issues important to the country, including the decriminalization of abortion. The winner of the Centro Esperanza Coalition is in favor of the average, while the winner of the Team for Colombia is against it.

With regard to other important issues such as the legalization of cannabis, Fajardo agrees to legalize it, but says that first “we have to go a way to get there”. On the contrary, Fico said he agrees that the plant should be used medicinally, but not that it is free to be sold for recreational use.

With this in mind, Fajardo maintains that he will not join Gutierrez. Likewise, he points out that his job for now, before continuing to campaign, is to “smooth out the rough edges” and unite the Centro Esperanza Coalition again. In the movement, strong fights have been reported among its members, some have even been public.

It should be remembered that the Centro Esperanza Coalition was the inter-party consultation in which the least citizens participated, which would also be an indicator of how little electoral force they have on their own. Among the five Coalition candidates they won 1,791,475 votes, while between 3 and 6 million citizens participated in the other consultations.

“The task that we have among ourselves, in political terms, is to strengthen ourselves, to understand the dimension we have for a country that is going to change, because it will not follow the course of President Duque and, that we have the strength to show that serious and profound change, at the same time having the ability to unite, it is first among us,” he stressed. Fajardo.

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