Colombian opposition senator Piedad Cordoba is the most likely to win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, based on the bets made on the election at UK oddsmaker Ladbrokes.
The Senator, who is highly controversial in Colombia because of her opposition to the popular Uribe administration and an ongoing investigation for alleged ties to FARC guerrillas, is leading the British bets before Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia, newspaper El Espectador reported Thursday.
Some twenty protesters Wednesday protested the nomination in front of the Norwegian embassy in Bogota. The demonstrators support the government’s accusation that the senator is an ally of the FARC, considered a terrorist organization by both the U.S. and the E.U.
The 54-year-old leftist senator was earlier tipped as the most probable winner by a prominent norwegian peace activist.
Cordoba was nominated by a former Nobel Peace Prize winner, Argentinean Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who praised the politician for her efforts to seek a political solution to the 45-year-old conflict in Colombia. Perez Esquivel has often criticized the Colombian State for committed human rights violations.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in Norway on Friday, 11 AM CET (4 AM in Colombia).