On Monday, leftwing firebrand Piedad Córdoba officially registered her candidacy for the Colombian presidency in the 2018 elections. Appearing in a white vest, skirt and wrapped in a red turban, Córdoba told the press that she gathered the required signatures and is confident that she’ll be the next president.
“I announce to the whole country that I am a candidate and will be the next President of Colombia in 2018”, she said.
Córdoba gathered the required signatures with help from the “Poder Ciudadano” political action group. In total, she delivered more than 40,000 signatures.
“The principal position of my government will be change, a change of era, a change in poverty, misery, exclusion, lack of guarantees, and fundamentally I think that not only that the peace accords must be fulfilled, but a strategy for how to fulfill them needs to be created”, said Córdoba. Striking a populist tone, she also declared that her campaign will not be one of political parties but of the people.
Córdoba was dismissed from office and banned from politics in September 2010 by the General Prosecutor’s office due to her alleged collaboration with the FARC terrorist group, accusations derived from files discovered on the computer of FARC leader Luis Edgar Devia Silva. The ban was annulled in August 2016 due to lack of evidence.
Ms. Córdoba is one of the five candidates who registered their candidacies through signature collection, including Juan Carlos Pinzón, the former Colombian Ambassador to the United States, former Medellín mayor Sergio Fajardo, leftist and ex-M19 terrorist Gustavo Petro, and the Ex-Procurator General, Alejandro Ordóñez. More than 20 candidates have publicly declared their intention to run in the 2018 election.
