Gustavo Petro has won Colombia’s presidential election in a historic vote. Petro is a former M-19 guerrilla and the former mayor of Bogotá. Petro will become Colombia’s first leftist president after vowing to fight worsening inequality in Colombia with landmark policies including a tax reform and redistribution of pension savings. In an election runoff, Petro won about 50.5% of the vote, defeating right-wing businessman Rodolfo Hernández, who won about 47% of the vote. Petro’s running mate, the Afro-Colombian environmentalist Francia Márquez Mina, also made history. She will become Colombia’s first Black vice president.

President-elect Gustavo Petro: “We will develop capitalism in Colombia, not because we worship it, but because we first have to overcome premodernity in Colombia, feudalism in Colombia and the new slavery. We must overcome the past mentalities and behaviors linked to that world of slavery.”