Former Medellin mayor and current Antioquia gubernatorial candidate for the Colombian Green Party, Sergio Fajardo, clashed with his party Thursday about joining the congressional coalition of President Juan Manuel Santos.
Fajardo, who led the party together with Antanas Mockus to the 2010 presidential elections, said the party’s decision meant the end of its initial principles.
“We do not buy one vote. We do not buy a leader and we do not negotiate proposals out of bureaucratic interests,” Fajardo was quoted by several media.
The Green Party’s mayoral candidate for Bogota, Enrique Peñalosa, lashed back at Fajardo, who, according to the Bogota candidate “has not shown up to make great proposals for the country, but to criticize the party.”
The growing rift between Fajardo and the party follows a row of clashes between the party’s leaders. Mockus recently left the Green Party out of protest with former President Alvaro Uribe’s endorsement of Peñalosa.