Óscar Iván Zuluaga, the letter of Uribismo for the presidential elections of Colombia in 2022

Former presidential candidate Óscar Iván Zuluaga was appointed by the Uribe Democratic Center party, in power in Colombia, to seek again the head of state in 2022, a task in which he will have to keep that right-wing movement together and deal with the unpopular inheritance of the current president, Iván Duque.

In this way, Zuluaga, 62, will have a rematch at the polls after losing the Presidency in 2014 to Juan Manuel Santos in the second round despite the fact that in the first he was the most voted candidate.

Zuluaga, an experienced politician and economist, was again elected candidate in two polls that the party conducted of 4,200 people throughout Colombia and in which his name was imposed on that of senators Paloma Valencia and María Fernanda Cabal; former Vice Minister Rafael Nieto and Josué Alirio Barrera, former Governor of the department of Casanare.

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Despite the fact that his four contenders will support his campaign, a controversy arose on social networks because the results of the polls were not revealed and there are those who consider that the winner was Cabal, who has more radical positions, so much so that in the last presidential campaign in The United States publicly supported the candidacy of Donald Trump

“This day marks the beginning of a project of unity for employment, security, education, health and equality,” said Zuluaga after his candidacy was announced at a headquarters of the Democratic Center in Bogotá.

Colombia will hold the first round of the presidential elections on May 29, 2022 and Zuluaga is so far the only official candidate as the other parties have not yet defined names.

The candidate leading the polls is the leftist senator Gustavo Petro, who lost the second round of the 2018 elections with Duque, which is why there is an urgency between the center and right parties to find a name that can stand up to him.

Zuluaga decided to seek the Presidency again after his son David was acquitted last July of a process that followed him for his alleged connection to a case of espionage to the peace process between the Government and the FARC, in which he himself had been investigated as well.

This process was opened to him in the middle of the 2014 presidential campaign when the Democratic Center, founded by former President Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), led the opposition to Santos and the peace negotiations with the FARC.

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Before that campaign, Zuluaga was Minister of Finance during Uribe’s second government, between February 2007 and August 2010, as well as a senator between 2002 and 2006, and mayor of his hometown, Pennsylvania, in the central department of Caldas, between 1990 and 1991.

Leave the door open to alliances

This second candidacy, which has the support of several important senators from the Democratic Center, such as María del Rosario Guerra or Carlos Felipe Mejía, is based on the experience, from which it proposes “to take Colombia to the place it deserves with opportunities to all ”, even for opponents.

“Thank you for giving me the confidence to bring the Democratic Security 2.0 proposal to all Colombians,” he assured in reference to Uribe’s flagship program during his government.

He also left the door open to seek alliances with coalitions such as the right-wing “Equipo por Colombia”, of which former mayors Enrique Peñalosa, from Bogotá, are part; Federico Gutiérrez (Medellín) and Alejandro Char (Barranquilla), among others.

“There is a team of people with experience and new ideas, with them we have a great affinity and friendship with some. We are united by experience in public service, but more importantly, we are united by love for Colombia and the urgency to build a fairer country with more opportunities for all, ”said Zuluaga.

However, his campaign still has to go a long way to leave behind the shadow of Duque, whose popularity is low, and to achieve alliances, since not all members of the “Team for Colombia” see with good eyes an eventual alliance with Uribismo. .