The Colombian government reinforced the security of one of the main opposition candidates on Sunday for the presidency, after he reported death threats less than two months before the elections.
Paloma Valenciathe candidate of the right-wing party Democratic Center for the May 31 elections, he revealed an image that is circulating on social networks in which his photograph appears along with the legend “Rest in peace.”
This campaign is marked by the assassination last year of Senator Miguel Uribe, who intended to be the presidential candidate of that same movement to succeed the leftist Gustavo Petro.
The government criticized the threats against Valenciaa 48-year-old senator who is third in most polls led by Ivan Cepeda, a leader of the ruling party.
“The authorities are acting to clarify the facts and reinforce the protection” of the candidate, the Minister of the Interior, Armando Benedetti, wrote in X.
Colombia is experiencing its worst crisis of violence since the disarmament of the Marxist guerrilla FARC after signing peace in 2016.
A FARC dissident is suspected of having ordered the shooting attack in Bogotá against Miguel Uribe, very close to Valencia.
The candidate maintained that the threats against her “evidence a worrying deterioration of the democratic environment in the country.”
Several operate in Colombia armed groups that, according to experts, grew stronger during the Petro governmentwho tried unsuccessfully to negotiate peace.
