“There are many coincidences”: Federico Gutiérrez after his meeting with César Gaviria

Former President César Gaviria Trujillo and the presidential candidate of Team for Colombia, Federico Gutiérrez, met on Wednesday. At the meeting, which lasted more than three hours, the candidate for the presidency presented his main proposals to the sole leader of the Liberal Party.

It is important to note that Gutierrez seeks to add support to his campaign for the upcoming presidential elections. In the event that the Liberal Party decides to support the candidate, it could add a series of votes in the first round of elections.

After the meeting was over, Gaviria described the meeting as “an excellent talk”. For his part, Federico Gutiérrez said that he found many coincidences with the former president in the talk about the future of the country.

“In the face of programmatic approaches, there are many coincidences, I would say in the vast majority if it is not in full,” said the candidate for Team for Colombia. At the same time, he stressed that there are some red lines drawn by liberalism, but that “they are not red lines for me, because if I defend democracy and freedom, the red lines are for others who do put these principles at risk. Any agreement must be made on a programmatic basis for Colombia to do well,” he added.

Federico Gutiérrez also commented that the discussion spoke of a broad social agenda to ensure the well-being of citizens, give priority to regions and strengthen education. He also stressed that he is ready to meet again with the sole leader of the Liberal Party.

Regarding the decision to support his candidacy, it is still unknown what the decision of the party's bench will be; however, Gutiérrez stressed that, “they will take a few more days and I will continue my country tours with the people on the streets.” In the event that the support is provided, the former mayor of Medellín assured that he will respect the internal processes of the community.

“They continue to deliberate between their flock and me what I have told them is that they take as long as they want (...) the message I send clearly is that I hope it is a decision that suits the country, because what we have to take care of is democracy and freedoms,” said the candidate.

On Wednesday, the elected members of the Conservative Party confirmed support for the presidential candidacy of Federico Gutiérrez. The candidate won the interparty consultation where David Barguil had also launched himself as pre-candidate on behalf of the Conservatives.

“We met the entire group of current and elected congressmen of the party, with the next president of Colombia. We reiterate our support and raise five issues that we consider to be priorities for the next four years,” said Barguil.

The member of the Conservative Party pointed out that one of Gutiérrez's priorities in his government will be the countryside, a reason that encouraged conservatives to make the choice with an agribusiness development in mind. Another aspect that David Barguil pointed out that influenced the party's decision was the support that the candidate of Team for Colombia would give to security and bank loans.

It is important to note that, should the Liberal Party decide to support Federico Gutiérrez's campaign, the candidate would have the support of the country's traditional benches.

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