Hello, everyone! I am once again writing to you from Pasto, Colombia, where we are about to have local COPASST (Comité Paritario de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo) elections. These people will work with the local, department (state), and national government officials that were elected and took office this past year. The most interesting part about the recent elections has been the election of Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez, the current president and vice president of Colombia.
Gustavo Petro has an interesting background, as a former revolutionary and member of a guerrilla group called M-19. This group disbanded and became a peaceful political party, though President Petro is currently a member of the Humane Colombia political party. He has served as the mayor of Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, and as a member of the Senate, where he has been well-loved by those in left-wing politics and criticized by members of opposing parties. Francia Márquez, a single mother and former housekeeper, also has a history and a reputation as someone who is connected to and in support of the lower socio-economic class in Colombia. There are also highly polarized opinions about her work. In Colombia, there are many different political parties, and the presidential elections often go into a run-off, which is what happened in 2022.
