Michael Shifter, senior fellow and former president of the Inter-American Dialogue: “Following decades on the national political scene, six years after the peace deal and on his third presidential run, Gustavo Petro’s moment arrived. On Aug. 7 he will become Colombia’s first leftist president. Of even greater historical significance, Francia Márquez will be the country’s first Afro-descendant vice president. Their victory over Rodolfo Hernández can be attributed to several factors. Petro and Márquez presented themselves as change agents, determined to defy the political establishment and transform the country’s economic and social order. They put their finger on legitimate grievances of social exclusion and injustice felt by millions of Colombians. Their redistributionist and ‘green’ message particularly resonated with the country’s increasingly active youth. Petro’s populist appeal spread in the context of the pandemic, which hit Colombia hard (as it did other countries in the Americas). At the end of the campaign, his efforts…”