The president, Gustavo Petro, proposed yesterday Sunday the holding of a progressive congress, inspired by the late left-wing senator Piedad Córdoba, in order to design strategies to “win the 2026 elections.”
“In the face of Piedad, which covered a stage in the history of Colombian and Latin American progressivism, a self-reflection of the Historical Pact is important. I propose to you: meeting of the 1,500 people elected in 2023: The progressive congress,” Petro wrote in his X account.
Córdoba, a senator from the left-wing coalition Historic Pact, which brought Petro to power, died on Saturday in Medellín five days before her 69th birthday, a loss greatly lamented by the president himself and by leaders of Latin American progressivism.
In his message, Petro referred to the future of the left in Colombia when commenting on a column published in the press by the philosopher Lucero Martínez Kasab in which under the title ‘The tiger is coming, why don’t we run? He wonders what progressivism is doing to face a possible strong candidacy from the right-wing opposition in the 2026 elections.
In response to the concern of sectors of the left about the possibility of the right regaining power in the next presidential elections, Petro spoke of the “decision to set up a single political party” that brings together the different progressive sides.
“Objective: win the 2026 elections and make the democratic transformation of Colombia and the National Agreement for justice and peace irreversible,” the president wrote.
Although Petro has not yet reached the halfway point of his presidential term (2022-2026), the wear and tear in just 17 months of Government means that the opposition is already beginning to consider names of possible candidates for the next elections of the that his successor will emerge.
