>A 48-year-old senator calling for a military offensive against cocaine cartels has a strong shot at becoming Colombia’s first female president.
>A landslide primary win on Sunday has positioned Paloma Valencia among three frontrunners ahead of the May 31 presidential election.
>She wants to halt peace talks with drug-trafficking gangs, strengthen ties with Washington and cut taxes, offering voters a radical reversal from the leftist administration of President Gustavo Petro, which has been in power since 2022.
>Valencia was born in Cauca province in western Colombia, one of the nation’s most war-torn regions, to a prominent political family. One of her grandfathers was president of Colombia in the 1960s, while the other founded Universidad de los Andes, the nation’s most prestigious university.
>She rose to prominence as a protégé of former President Álvaro Uribe, who recaptured territory from Marxist guerrillas and used U.S. smart bomb technology to pick off commanders in their jungle, but whose record was tainted by wire-tapping scandals and human rights abuses that happened during his government.
>With Uribe’s support, she won a seat in the senate in 2014, and was re-elected in 2018 and 2022.
>“I was born and I will die an Uribista,” Valencia said, during the campaign.
>The logo of her party, the Democratic Center, is a silhouette of Uribe with his hand on his heart.
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>A 48-year-old senator calling for a military offensive against cocaine cartels has a strong shot at becoming Colombia’s first female president.
>A landslide primary win on Sunday has positioned Paloma Valencia among three frontrunners ahead of the May 31 presidential election.
>She wants to halt peace talks with drug-trafficking gangs, strengthen ties with Washington and cut taxes, offering voters a radical reversal from the leftist administration of President Gustavo Petro, which has been in power since 2022.
>Valencia was born in Cauca province in western Colombia, one of the nation’s most war-torn regions, to a prominent political family. One of her grandfathers was president of Colombia in the 1960s, while the other founded Universidad de los Andes, the nation’s most prestigious university.
>She rose to prominence as a protégé of former President Álvaro Uribe, who recaptured territory from Marxist guerrillas and used U.S. smart bomb technology to pick off commanders in their jungle, but whose record was tainted by wire-tapping scandals and human rights abuses that happened during his government.
>With Uribe’s support, she won a seat in the senate in 2014, and was re-elected in 2018 and 2022.
>“I was born and I will die an Uribista,” Valencia said, during the campaign.
>The logo of her party, the Democratic Center, is a silhouette of Uribe with his hand on his heart.