Petro, 62, who dominates voting intentions ahead of the May 29 election according to several polls, was scheduled to visit the center-west of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of his electoral tour.
However, his “security” scheme received first-hand information from sources in the area, according to which “the criminal group La Cordillera would be planning to attempt against the candidate’s life,” the political leader’s team said in a statement.
The police reacted to the complaint by denying that they had “intelligence information” or “linked to judicial processes that would allow inferring the existence of a criminal plan against the candidate.”
In a public statement, he noted that the prosecution will verify what Petro’s team said, “including the alleged threat from the criminal group ‘La Cordillera’.”
According to the senator’s campaign, La Cordillera is a paramilitary organization “dedicated to drug trafficking and hired assassins.”
He even mentioned that some military and police officers operate with the gang and that “highly credible sources” told him that a police officer would take part in the “criminal plan” against Petro.
Faced with the threat, the “campaign has preferred to exercise caution” and postpone activities in the coffee region, reported its press advisors.
– Opposites –
Petro, a former guerrilla who fought the Colombian state before signing peace in 1990, has repeatedly expressed concern for his safety.
“Before I govern they are going to try to prevent it. That ranges from moral destruction to physical destruction,” she said in a recent interview with journalist María Jimena Duzán on Spotify.
Heavily escorted, the former mayor of Bogotá and candidate for the Historical Pact – a left-wing coalition – leads an intense campaign with several public meetings a day.
Opinion studies give him as the winner, although he would not obtain more than 50% of the support he needs to avoid the ballot that would take place on June 19.
If he wins, it will be the first time Colombians have elected a leftist as president after a long tradition of liberal and conservative governments.
Petro would face former Medellín mayor Federico Gutiérrez in the second round, second in voting intention and who was nominated by an alliance of right-wing parties. President Iván Duque, who ends his four-year term sunk in unpopularity, is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election.
One month before the elections, polarization is increasing.
Petro proposes a government of reforms, with tax increases for the richest, the strengthening of the State and the suspension of new oil initiatives, while Gutiérrez proposes continuing with a model that favors private initiative and a strong hand against violence.
