Colombian presidential candidate Íngrid Betancourt announced this Saturday that she will leave the Centro Esperanza Coalition.
Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt She will contest the May elections as the standard-bearer of her party, the Oxygen Green, because in the Centro Esperanza alliance there is no clear position regarding the support of politicians allegedly linked to corruption cases.
Betancourt had given the Coalition an ultimatum last Thursday to distance itself from politicians linked to corruption or electoral machinery, or else it would abandon that alliance.
“We received a response from the Centro Esperanza Coalition. The input of machine supports is pointed out as an error that is regretted. However, it does not announce action regarding the support already received from the machinery to Alejandro Gaviria,” Betancourt said in a video.
According to Betancourt, this lack of a clear position forces her “to assume the leadership of a battle” that has to be “taken
and win in Colombia for a clean, fair policy that does not steal opportunities from the 51 million Colombians” who are “kidnapped by corruption.”
“Under these conditions we are forced to take a step aside from the Centro Esperanza Coalition. I will be an independent candidate for the Presidency for the Oxygen Green party. A party that does not make concessions in the fight against the machinery because there can be no gray areas here,” he said.
Controversy with Alejandro Gaviria
The decision was made after Senator Germán Varon Cotrino, of the right-wing Radical Change party, joined former Minister Gaviria, one of the seven candidates of the Hope Center Coalition, which last Monday caused a strong confrontation between the two in a debate of the newspaper El Tiempo and the magazine Semana.
Faced with this situation, the other five presidential candidates of the Coalition assured today that “the acceptance of one of its members of support by leaders who have accompanied the government agenda of the president (Iván Duque)” is “a mistake” that share and mourn.
However, they stated that this episode should be closed “and take to the streets to present proposals that Colombians expect to unite and transform” the country, which on March 13, the day of the legislative elections, will also choose in open consultations the candidates of the Esperanza Center and two other left and right coalitions.
“It is Ingrid and Alejandro’s decision to accompany us or not,” added the other members of the Centro Esperanza Coalition, which Betancourt had joined just 11 days ago, on January 18.
In this regard, Gaviria today appreciated that his colleagues from the Coalition collected his “criteria and observations” and said that he will maintain his candidacy for that movement.
“I am not going to give up the support received under any circumstances,” added the former Minister of Health.
Betancourt, 60, will be an independent candidate
In this way, Betancourt, 60 years old, six of whom were kidnapped by the FARC guerrillas, will not participate in the Centro Esperanza Coalition’s consultation but will go directly as a candidate for the Oxygen Green party in the presidential elections of 29 of May.
“We assume this responsibility and call on all Colombians, who are against corruption, to build this road together to free ourselves from corruption,” he said.
In addition to the confrontation with Gaviria in the debate, Betancourt also had bitter friction with the favorite in the polls, the left-wing senator Gustavo Petro, who leads the Historic Pact coalition, and whom he accused of making a “pact with the devil” because of his alliances with traditional politicians. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
