Petro Pledges to 'Change the History of Colombia' as 60,000 Attend His Bogota Rally

Over 60,000 people gathered in Bolivar Square, in Bogota, Thursday to attend one of the final campaign events of Colombian presidential candidate Gustavo Petro ahead of the first round of presidential elections scheduled for May 27.

RELATED: 
Gustavo Petro's Campaign Manager Receives Death Threat

The latest poll puts Petro, who called on citizens to vote to help him "change the history of Colombia", in second place in the first round of the election with 26 percent of likely voters stating they will support for him. The figure puts him nine points behind the protege of former president Alvaro Uribe, Ivan Duque, who is a staunch critic of the peace accords between the Colombian government and the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The YanHaas poll result bears a resemblance to the figures shown in previous polls conducted by the organization and other pre-election polls. Most polls predict Petro and Duque will both go to the second round of the election scheduled for June 17.

Petro is, however, skeptical of the various polls, which consistently shown him running in second place with between 22 and 31 percent of the vote. During the rally, which will be one of his last ahead of the first round of the presidential election he told supporters: "These rallies have not been transmitted, not only because they contradict the polls, but because they show the Colombian people have decided to change Colombia’s history.”   

“If citizens win, the country will be different. A country of peace, of democracy. If the machinery wins, it will be the country of an unknown violence, of corruption, of reficares, Hidroituango, and elevated metros,” he said alluding to the Ituango Dam Colombia's largest hydroelectric dam, which is currently threatening the lives of tens of thousands of people along the river Cauca in  Colombia's Antioquia Department, and other controversial public projects.

During his speech, Petro also highlighted the politics of division, which he says has only encouraged the creation of a group of anachronic, corrupt and incapable politicians, who are unable to empathize with ordinary citizens. 

The presidential hopeful also reiterated that Colombia’s “calling” is not mining, but agriculture and criticized his rivals for betting on extractive industries, which will negatively impact the lives of Colombians in the long-term  

Other candidates are also expected to end their campaigns over the next few days. Centrist candidate Sergio Fajardo, who third in the polls with 14 percent, will, however, not host a traditional rally opting instead to pursue a one on one political campaign. Center-right candidate German Vargas Lleras is fourth with 6 percent.