A number of aggressive billboards attacking Colombia’s president and supporting the opposition candidate in the upcoming presidential election’s second round have sprung up in the central state of Meta, national Semana Magazine reported on Thursday.
One of the political billboards, which shows several cartoons with a caption stating “The people that surround [President Juan Manuel] Santos are the most hated people in Colombia,” is situated on a principal road of the state capital, Villavicencio, Semana reported.
The billboard depict, in an unpleasant manner, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, former leftist Senator Piedad Cordoba, Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro, Cuban President Raul Castro, former Colombian Presidents Ernesto Samper and Cesar Gaviria, and negotiator for Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, Ivan Marquez.
The billboard, which concludes its statement with “YOU DECIDE – Vote for President Oscar Ivan Zuluaga,” supports the Democratic Center’s (Centro Democratico – CD) presidential candidate, who will vie for the country’s presidency against the incumbent Santos on June 15.
The billboard does not mention either of the candidate’s proposals, or merits, but instead resorts to some of the more antagonizing tactics seen so far in the 2014 presidential campaigns.
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A second billboard reportedly located in downtown Villavicencia, depicts another cartoon of President Santos flanked by vice-presidential candidate German Vargas Lleras, dressed in a Minnie Mouse dress, and former President Cesar Gaviria.
The billboard, which shows Santos surrendering with a “Z” drawn on his shirt, reads “Zorro has arrived to liberate us from these tormentors. Firm hand big heart. Vote for President Oscar Ivan Zuluaga.”
According to Semana, which interviewed various residents in the area, the billboards are thought to have been put up by a powerful businessman from the state of Meta.
The first round of presidential elections, the campaigns of which were labelled as the “dirtiest” in Colombia’s history, where won by Zuluaga but failed to produce a decisive winner as none of the candidates were able to garner the 50% majority of votes required to take office.