Opposition Senator Piedad Cordoba Wednesday received the explicit support of Liberal Party presidential candidate Rafael Pardo who said she is being stigmatized.
Cordoba is highly controversial in Colombia for her outspoken opposition to the policies of President Alvaro Uribe, her friendship with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and her attempts to force peace talks between the government and the country’s largest rebel group FARC.
However, internationally the Senator is praised for her efforts to bring forth a peace dialogue and her mediation with the FARC resulting the release of political hostages held by the guerrillas. Cordoba was recently tipped as the most probable to win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize by a prominent Norwegian peace activist.
“Piedad Cordoba has been stigmatized and deserves to win the prize for her great work,” Pardo said in an interview on Caracol Radio.
The Uribe administration has regularly accused Cordoba of being allies with the FARC and called her ‘Colombians for Peace group’ “the FARC’s intellectual bloc.”
The winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday.