Colombia: Gustavo Petro Wins Endorsement of Indigenous, Campesinos Groups

Colombia’s National Indigenous Organization (ONIC) endorsed progressive presidential candidate Gustavo Petro Tuesday and issued a call to its members to support the “peace coalition” in the country's presidential elections on June 17.

RELATED: 
Colombia: Liberal Party's VP Candidate Breaks Rank, Vows Support for Petro

The ONIC, its political party MAIS along with groups representing Campesinos and Afro Colombians met with the Humana Colombia vice-presidential candidate Angela Maria Robledo and supporters of the Green Alliance and the Democratic Pole in ONIC’s headquarters to endorse Petro’s candidacy.

“We are worried to lose the historic opportunity to know the truth, of finding justice and secure reparation for the victims,” MAIS president Martha Peralta said, warning leading candidate Ivan Duque represents “those who want to destroy the (peace) accords.”

She also said: “the construction of a Humane Colombia is the best path for the nation find a way to progress.”

Petro and Robledo are running for office on a platform that vows to strengthen the peace process by working to overcome economic inequalities, move away from extractive industries, and promote agricultural development.  

RELATED: 
Colombia: Uribe-Linked Massacres Deemed Crimes Against Humanity

Indigenous, Campesino and Afro-Colombian communities have disproportionately borne the brunt of the fallout of Colombia's armed conflict and the fall out from its war on drug trafficking.

Secretary general of ONIC, Higinio Obispo, highlighted the importance of calling on Indigenous and Campesino communities to “vote with dignity” on June 17.

During the events, vice presidential candidate Angela Maria Robledo called on everyone who voted for Sergio Fajardo of the Colombia Coalition and Liberal Humberto De la Calle to vote for peace.  

Support for Petro has, however, reached beyond conflict victims and Colombia's borders. Renowned French economist Thomas Piketty and Nobel laureate and novelist John Maxwell Coetzee have also issued statements in support of Humane Colombia over the last few days.

Piketty, a professor at the London School of Economics, the Massachusetts Institute for Technology and the Paris School of Economics said on Twitter that Petro’s proposals are “serious and convincing.”

Former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who was kidnapped and held hostage by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for six years, also endorsed Petro Tuesday.