He began his political career in the ranks of a Colombian guerrilla army, has survived assassination attempts and served as senator and mayor of Bogotá. When he appears before throngs of adoring supporters in squares across the country, he does so flanked by bodyguards with bulletproof shields.
And after Sunday’s election, Gustavo Petro, 62, could become the first ever leftwing president of Colombia, a country ruled since independence by conservative elites and plagued for decades by political violence.
