Sergio Fajardo highlights the support of 300 academics and opinion leaders for his campaign

This Thursday, March 31, the former governor of Antioquia and candidate for the presidency of Colombia by the Centro Esperanza Coalition, Sergio Fajardo, celebrated the announcement of more than 300 intellectuals and opinion leaders to support him in his political aspirations within two months of the first presidential round.

The former mayor of Medellín, who won the internal consultation of the center alliance in which the single candidacy for the presidential elections was defined, shared a letter signed by writers, academics, opinion leaders, businessmen and former public officials, expressing their support for the campaign with which seeks to govern the country.

“We believe that Sergio Fajardo represents the strength of hope that the country needs, which grew tired of the corruption and contempt of the rulers towards the governed, of the abandonment of the poor to their fate, of the inequality between men and women, as well as the violent treatment against legitimate protest and the barbarism of reproduction of the armed conflict that overwhelms the victims. We invite you to vote for Fajardo, to unite the country in an agenda of change and to build together the future dreamed of by the new generations,” said the signatories of the letter.

In the document they indicated that the coalition candidate represented the change that citizens were seeking in the country, which called for a “serene, dedicated and conciliatory force” that would allow the construction of a better country at a time they defined as “crucial” in history, noting that its vice-presidential form, the former minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, embodied “diversity, inclusion, the defense of biodiversity and the potential of regions”.

At the same time, they pointed out that the “extremes” wanted to convince citizens that the only alternative is to “vote for the continuity of Uribe - Duque - Fico or for the uncertainty that Petro's populism represents”, pointing out that they were wrong and that the formula of the center alliance and the coalition team, which showed cracks considerable in the legislative elections, had the answer to the country's demands.

“We must stop the murder of social leaders, of the demobilized who took advantage of peace, of women victims of their partners, and the economic scourge of extortion and the human horrors of confinement and displacement of the population, the result of the total failure of security policies. Peace is built from the territory, from the bottom up. We represent power from the regions. We fully assume the challenge of making the comprehensive rural reform defined in the Peace Agreement,” said the signatories.

Finally, they indicated that the presidential formula of the Centro Esperanza Coalition will ensure that the great challenges of insecurity, corruption, inequality, racism and lack of production, as well as employment and development opportunities that currently affect a large part of the population.

Among the signatories of the letter are the writer Piedad Bonnett; the former foreign minister, Maria Angela Holguín; the former foreign minister, Rodrigo Pardo; the cartoonist, Vladdo; the former constituent, Maria Teresa Garcés; the internationalist, Laura Gil; and the economist and former director of the Bank of the Republic, Solomón Kalmanovitz.

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