Whilst Petro has used his platform to oppose the neo-liberal status quo and the country’s longstanding dependency on the United States, this challenge has left him in a precarious position as he threatens both domestic and foreign elites.
Petro was born in 1960 in the coastal Córdoba, in the rural North West of Colombia. His family was of Italian descent and relocated to the salt-mining town of Zipaquirá outside the country’s capital when Petro was a teen, which gave him insight into the rampant poverty and inequality which divided Colombia in the 1970s.
He became involved with labour organisations and was recruited by Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19) when he was studying economics in Bogotá when he was 17. Whilst the group has been associated with bold acts of domestic terrorism, Petro’s role within the group was primarily in community engagement and stockpiling weapons, the latter of which he was arrested for in 1985.
Having risen to a leadership role within the organisation, Petro was tortured and incarcerated for 18 months, after which he changed tack and advocated for peace talks between the rebels and Colombian government. Following negotiations, M-19 and Petro demobilised in 1990 in exchange for political amnesty, allowing the transformation of the guerrillas into a legitimate political party, marking the beginning of Petro’s formal political career.
As a member of M-19’s Alianza Democrática, Petro was elected to the Colombian House of Representatives in 1991 during a time of political modernisation in the country, where his party played an active role in shaping the 1991 liberal constitution.
However, Petro was forced to flee Colombia in 1994 under threat from increased right-wing hostility both within government and from external paramilitary groups. Studying at universities in Belgium and Spain during this self-imposed exile, Petro honed his socialist ideology from his revolutionary days with M-19 to the progressive populism that saw him re-elected to the House following his return to Colombia in 1998.
He also advised President Hugo Chávez in neighbouring Venezuela at the turn of the century, although he subsequently distanced himself from the Chavista model following its shortcomings and international backlash. Although the 21st century brought in a “pink tide” of progressive leadership for Latin America, Colombia stood as an outlier for retaining its liberal-conservative dichotomy, but Petro’s electoral success in the House and later the Senate represented a left-wing vision for Colombia.
Although the 21st century brought in a “pink tide” of progressive leadership for Latin America, Colombia stood as an outlier for retaining its liberal-conservative dichotomy, but Petro’s electoral success in the House and later the Senate represented a left-wing vision for Colombia.
Petro’s turn to progressive populism was consolidated by the collapse of M-19’s Alianza Democrática party. Petro’s involvement in the successive left-wing parties embraced a less radical social democratic base whilst allowing him to retain his personal opposition to neo-liberalism and American influence in Colombia’s politics and economy.
His policies on fighting corruption and inequality continued to be controversial despite their popular appeal, as Colombia’s traditional conservative elite saw him as a challenge to the status quo on which they relied.
As a senator, Petro’s influence had been muted but his election to the Mayoralty of Bogotá in 2012 put him in the crosshairs of the elite who continued see him as a radical ex-guerilla who threatened their power. His social policies were immensely successful, lifting half a million of the capital’s population out of poverty and improving access to public services like healthcare (including abortions), transport, arts, and education, as well as overseeing a reduction in the city’s crime rate.
His social policies were immensely successful, lifting half a million of the capital’s population out of poverty and improving access to public services like healthcare (including abortions), transport, arts, and education, as well as overseeing a reduction in the city’s crime rate
Petro’s term as mayor saw his popularity increase significantly among the left whilst his right-wing opponents launched legal battles that succeeded in temporarily removing him from office and banning him from political activity - not dissimilar to the legal battles faced by Lula in Brazil around the same time. This attack was rescinded following mass protests which highlighted the conservative bias and undemocratic nature of the process, and Petro was reinstated as mayor.
Following unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 2010 and 2018, Petro was finally successful in trumping his conservative rivals in his 2022 campaign against far-right opposition candidate Rodolfo Hernández Suárez. Running on a platform of environmentalism, progressive social policy, and a promised agrarian reform, Petro promised a change to decades of neo-liberal policies which had only increased inequalities and lined the pockets of Colombia’s domestic elite.
In fact, in spite of media outlets predicting an economic downturn mirroring that of neighbouring Venezuela, Petro has succeeded in securing higher wages for the working classes as well as a reduction in inflation and unemployment, all whilst increasing government spending on social programmes and welfare.
Moreover, Petro has introduced an ambitious Citizens’ Rent program which subsidises rent for 2 million of the country’s most vulnerable families, particularly impoverished migrants and single mothers, as well as expanding a school meals programme providing free lunches to students.
Whilst Petro has thus far been unable to implement a comprehensive agrarian reform, his first year in office saw more rural families awarded land titles than the previous government had processed in its entire term. He has also been very effective in making progress towards “Total Peace” with guerilla groups, a familiar area to Petro given his revolutionary past.
Although Petro has exceeded expectations from the media and those sceptical of his ability to implement left-wing reforms under a conservative congress and facing increasingly hostile pressure from the United States (see the near-miss of a trade war between Petro and Trump in January), these challenges will persist throughout his term and likely prevent him from winning a subsequent election.
Although his plans are certainly more ambitious than those of Latin American neighbours like Lula in Brazil, with a bolder approach to foreign policy and greater solidarity with Palestinians and environmental protections, his position is also more precarious and it is possible that the material changes he is impressively making will not reach enough people to take him or his party to victory in the 2026 elections.
Colombia remains a far cry from the socialist vision of M-19 or the improved social equity of the current political establishment, but left-wing politics being allowed to finally shape the country for the first time in its history is opening up new avenues for Colombia to challenge the neo-liberal order of the global world for the benefit of all of its diverse populations.