In May, Colombians will elect a successor to President Gustavo Petro, the country’s first left-wing leader in modern history. The election results will cement – or erase – Petro’s legacy at home, where voters will choose from a field including leftist Iván Cepeda, conservative Paloma Valencia and far-right lawyer Abelardo Gabriel de la Espriella.
In nearly four years in power, Petro has struggled to implement the full breadth of his reform agenda; is also facingminimum approval levels. But as Colombia’s international representative on the world stage, he has had a major impact, with bellicose speeches at the United Nations attacking governments that “glorifying genocide” in Gaza and failed to provide climate action.
