Former Colombian President and Liberal Party heavyweight Cesar Gaviria announced Wednesday that he will support Juan Manuel Santos’ bid for the 2010 presidency, a move which outgoing President Alvaro Uribe labelled as “opportunistic.”
Gaviria, former Liberal Party president and a fierce critic of Uribe, explained in an open letter why he had decided to support his former foreign trade minister Santos.
“I trust that he [Santos] will rectify some of President Uribe’s policies that so so necessary for our party,” Gaviria wrote.
“I trust that the government of national unity… will take up some of our [Liberal] flags of strict respect for human rights, respect for the power of the judiciary, decentralization, the use of state intelligence only to persecute criminals, a fairer tax structure, a better distribution of land, respect for the rights of victims,” Gaviria continued.
In a presidential press release Uribe rejected Gaviria’s announcement as “opportunistic” and “reminded” Colombians that the present government “dismantled criminal structures such as ‘Los Pepes'” and avoided creating new jails such as that of notorious drug trafficker Pablo Escobar’s “Cathedral,” which was created under Gaviria’s presidency with disasterous results.
Santos will face-off against Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus in the election this Sunday. In Colombia’s first round presidential election Santos came first with 46.57% of the vote, followed by Mockus with 21.47%. Because no candidate gained the majority vote required to win the election outright, Santos and Mockus will face-off in a second round election on June 20.
The latest voter poll indicates that Santos will win the second round run-off with with 65%, while Mockus will win 28% of the votes.