RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The former governor of the department of Antioquia, Luis Pérez, has withdrawn his candidacy for Colombia’s May 29 presidential election, even though his chances were nil, claiming that political polarization leaves him with no options for his centrist proposal.
The candidate asserts that despite having the support of 1.2 million signatures (a requirement if a party does not support one), he has found in the campaign “a polarized environment full of hatred, divided between ‘good and bad’ and between ‘bad and good,’ depending on which extreme you judge.”
“They eliminate the richness of differences and legitimize intolerance as a bad political style,” he said, denouncing that there is “a hidden strategy to eliminate those who are not extreme.”
The 70-year-old Pérez was governor of Antioquia from 2016 to 2020 and mayor of Medellín from 2001 to 2004. He is narrowly ahead of Sergio Fajardo, a centrist candidate. The latter is also very far from Casa Nariño in the polls, although he barely made it to the second round last time.
In addition, his campaign took a hit when the leader of the Gulf clan, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel,” named him in a video released in 2011 in which he claimed that he had received illegal help for his campaign for mayor of Medellín and was close to a drug trafficker extradited to the United States, Henry de Jesús López, alias “Mi Sangre.”
The facts have been denied by the now ex-candidate, nor have they been proven, nor are there any official charges against him.
According to the latest Yanhass poll, commissioned by the RCN channel and published last night, Pérez was one of the previous candidates in terms of voting intention, with 0.3%. This puts leftist Gustavo Petro ahead of his competitor, also former mayor of Medellín Federico “Fico” Gutiérrez, with 40% and 21%.
In a runoff to be held on June 19, Petro, the mayor of Bogotá, would win the presidency with 47% of the vote, while “Fico” would come in at 34% since, according to these results, no one would receive 50% of the vote in the first round.