the leftist Gustavo Petro reached out to feminists with whom she had a strained relationship in the past, seeking their support for the presidential runoff in Colombia before the millionaire Rodolfo Hernández, whose intemperate sayings regarding women have earned him the fame of sexist.
In a meeting with 36 feminist organizations in Bogotá, the 62-year-old senator and former guerrilla tied the green scarf around his neck, symbol of the cause in favor of the liberation of abortion.
Petro he promised that he will respect the constitutional ruling that decriminalized the interruption of pregnancy up to week 24, one of the most flexible terms in Latin America.
“When a woman makes that free decision, it is not criminal (…) abortion is a woman’s free decision and therefore there should be no social sanction,” said the candidate to applause.
Likewise, he advocated in favor of considering crimes once morest women as “the priority of the criminal code.”
His rival in the second round declined the invitation to the debate, alleging constant attacks from Petro.
Hernández “is not worried regarding women, it is something that he has already shown (…) he has a fairly retrograde thinking,” complained Angélica Londoño, a 20-year-old university student.
On her side, the director of the NGO Artemisas, Juliana Martínez assured the AFP that women had never before “been seen as a fundamental actor”.
Now “we are decisive in these elections,” added the head of one of the organizers of the “Feminist Debate.”
DILEMMA
Petro and Hernández will meet on June 19 in the second roundfollowing last Sunday’s elections in which the leftist obtained 40% of the votes compared to 28% for Hernández, who surprised by displacing the right for the first time in the fight for power in this country with conservative roots.
Without a party or a clear ideology, Hernández garnered this week the support of the traditional forces grouped in an “anti-petrist” front that brings together the right in power, the conservatives and a sector of the liberals, all fearful of an unprecedented leftist government .
The independent, which includes its entire program in the fight once morest corruption, inflamed the anger of feminists for stating, for example, that the “ideal thing would be for women to dedicate themselves to raising children” or their disagreement with the typification of femicide when in the country some 600 women are murdered a year for reasons of gender, according to women’s organizations.
As mayor of the city of Bucaramanga (2016-2019), he celebrated Women’s Day by wearing dishwashing gloves.
Marelen Castillo, a Catholic who accompanies him as his vice-presidential partner, anticipated that she would ask to “review” the ruling on abortion if she came to power.
Given the impulse of Hernández, the senator and head of the opposition turned to the young abstentionists and women (51% of the electoral census).
However, in the past he argued with feminists for his support of a former candidate for mayor of Bogotá denounced for a “violent sexual act”, in a case that was later filed by the prosecution.
In this campaign, the leftist allied himself with Francia Márquez, a vice-presidential candidate and recognized Afro-feminist leader.
(AFP)
