The political party of Colombia’s vice president, Francia Marquez — I am because we are (Soy porque Somos, in Spanish) — has decided to support Roy Barreras’ presidential aspirations in the internal primary known as the Front for Life, scheduled for March 8.
The group announced that it is backing Barreras as its candidate to compete for a progressive nomination ahead of the first round of the presidential election, set for May 31, independent from the main contest within the left led by Ivan Cepeda.
The decision marks a new chapter in the tensions that have long run through the ruling coalition. While Human Colombia (Colombia Humana, in Spanish), the party of President Gustavo Petro, maintains an uncomfortable equidistance from the more orthodox wing of the left — represented by Ivan Cepeda — the party that brought Marquez to the vice presidency has chosen a different path.
The divergence reflects political and strategic differences that are not new, but are now clearly shifting into the electoral arena.
With three weeks to go before the legislative elections, the left is experiencing an unusual scenario — unthinkable just a month ago — of division and confrontation among various candidates and presidential hopefuls that could play out at the polls, especially in the congressional elections on March 8.
Colombia’s VP party Francia Marquez supports Roy Barreras’ candidacy
The endorsement of Barreras does not imply direct participation by the vice president in the race. Colombian electoral law prohibits elected officials in office from engaging in partisan political activity.
Therefore, the decision rests exclusively with the party that endorsed her in the last elections, not with Marquez in her capacity as vice president.
The group believes that Barreras represents an option with institutional experience and the ability to engage in dialogue with diverse sectors, qualities that, in its view, could broaden the electoral base of progressivism at a time when the government is facing wear.
Barreras, a former president of Congress and a key figure in building legislative majorities during the first years of Petro’s administration, has sought to project himself as a candidate capable of building bridges and ensuring governability.
I Am Because We Are approached The Force — Barreras’ party — and the so-called Broad United Front (Frente Amplio Unitario, in Spanish), the coalition of small parties and movements backing Petro’s former ambassador to London, in the middle of last year. Ariel Palacios, leader of the organization founded by Marquez, explained that the discontent is directly related to the legislative elections on March 8.
“Our candidacies have been sidelined, just as they have done with the vice president within the government,” explained the leader of Marquez’s party, referring to the decision by the Historic Pact not to include the vice president’s party’s congressional hopefuls on its closed lists.
This scenario outlines a new chapter in the longstanding differences between Colombia’s president and vice president, who have accumulated years of conflicts.
It is worth recalling that Marquez’s party, which has particular support in the regions of Valle del Cauca, Cauca, and Bogota, ultimately ended up incorporating its congressional candidates into the party The Force, led by Barreras, which in turn is part of the coalition known as Broad United Front.
Barreras applauds as the left criticizes and splits
While the decision by the party of Francia Marquez has been applauded and welcomed by the favored candidate, Roy Barreras, it has sparked a torrent of criticism from sectors further to the left, accusing the still vice president of deepening the political division within the pro-Petro ruling coalition.
Barreras accused the critics of “sectarianism,” holding them responsible for deepening the division of progressive proposals “that go beyond the radical left.”
“Now they are the target of the ‘troll farms’ that only damage our chances of uniting. That sectarianism that Gustavo Petro criticized so much and that has often prevented his vision of the country and change from becoming a reality,” he wrote on his account on the social media platform X.
Within the left, several leaders of the Historic Pact and of the sector closest to President Gustavo Petro, such as senators Maria Jose Pizarro and Wilson Arias, as well as former minister Susana Muhamad, have publicly questioned the former ambassador’s decision to maintain his candidacy outside of a unity agreement.
However, among them, the one who has spoken out most forcefully against Barreras has been pro-government former member of Congress Gustavo Bolivar, who directly accused the veteran politician of “hindering” progressive unity, stating that “holding a primary without Cepeda is betraying the Historic Pact.”
These statements came after Ivan Cepeda was excluded from the Front for Life primary, and Barreras decided to remain in the race despite that decision.
This situation has exposed differences within the ruling coalition, with cross-criticisms leaving progressive options more divided than a month ago, ahead of an imminent electoral scenario — both for Congress and the presidency — that will lay the foundations of Colombian politics for the next four years.