Leftist Patriotic Union (UP) leader Aida Avella formally registered as a presidential candidate on Friday, less than two weeks after she was incidentally shot at by ELN guerrillas.
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Avella, accompanied by dozens of supporters, enrolled in the National Registry of Civil Status. Human Rights defender Jael Quiroga was introduced as her running mate. “Our enrollment is historic, never before have two aspirational women worked together,” noted Avella. “We want peace but with social justice and democracy,” the candidate added. Both women are survivors of the original Patriotic Union “genocide” in the 1980s and 1990s during which paramilitary groups, members of the military, political opponents and drug traffickers killed thousands of the party’s members, including two presidential candidates.
FACT SHEET: Patriotic Union