“They may be new faces, but they are committed to the old machines”: Ingrid Betancourt Petro and 'Fico' Gutiérrez

A month after the elections with which Colombians will elect the next president of the Republic, the candidate for the Green Oxygen party, Ingrid Betancourt, acknowledged in an interview with the newspaper La Crónica del Quindio, that her opponents for the Casa de Nariño, Gustavo Petro and Federico Gutiérrez, are the ones who have the largest chances of winning in the electoral contest.

In her dialogue with the Quindiano newspaper, the former congressman said that, although she considers that the two presidential candidates work hand in hand with the traditional machinery that they themselves claim they are not allied with, she is aware that both the Senator for Human Colombia and the former mayor of Medellín are the most eligible to become the first national president.

When questioned about how these alliances between traditional parties can be changed, she asserted that the only way is not to be “manipulated” or to be carried away by “hatred”, since she affirmed that they are aspects that end up in fear and, therefore, in decisions that end up leading Colombians to “nowhere.”

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In this way, Betancourt stressed to La Chronicle del Quindio that it is important that, for the next electoral contest, Colombians vote thinking of making Colombia “different”, and not because of fear that Gustavo Petro will come to power or out of hatred of former President Álvaro Uribe.

The candidate for the Casa de Nariño also spoke with the Quindian media about her position on the blank vote. She said, for her, suffrage is the mechanism to change the country, so she believes that Colombians should choose which candidate they will give their votes to.

“There is enough money and machines require it to carry out their fraudulent actions, to buy a lot of people and pull their strings to get to power. But we Colombians are the majority that we don't let ourselves buy, but that vote must know where it is going,” said the candidate for the Green Oxygen party to La Crónica del Quindio.

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Regarding her presidential proposals, the candidate indicated to the same media that her participation in this electoral contest is to “defend the pocket of every Colombian.” As he explained, if he arrives at Casa de Nariño, his objective will be to “shield Colombians against theft”, ensuring that the money collected from taxes is used to improve the country's road connectivity, education, work and pensions, and that public servants do not keep them resources.

In this way, Betancourt called on Colombians in his interview with The Chronicle of Quindio to make “the decision to change” the country and vote “out of conviction”.

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