The frontrunner in Colombia’s election race, leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda, announced that Senator Aida Quilcue, a renowned indigenous leader, will be his running mate.
In a video message, Cepeda said that Quilcue, 53, accepted his invitation to run for vice-president ahead of the first round on the presidential election in May.
The candidate praised his running mate’s organization, the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) and its “resistance, social struggle and construction of a just and democratic country.”
Quilcue was elected into the Senate in 2022 after decades of leadership with the CRIC and the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC).
As senator, Cepeda’s running mate was briefly kidnapped, survived an assassination attempt and reported mistreatment by members of the National Army.
Quilcue lost her husband in 2008 when soldiers opened fire on his car for motives that have yet to be fully clarified.
Investigations into this homicide were followed by death threats leveled at the Senator and other indigenous leaders from Cauca.
Shortly after Cepeda’s announcement, the runner-up in the election race, far-right attorney Abelardo de la Espriella, said that economist Jose Manuel Restrepo will be his running mate.
Restrepo is the former rector of the Rosario University, who served as former President Ivan Duque’s trade minister and finance minister.
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