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Hon. Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego ODB ODSC

President of the Republic of Colombia

Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego ODB ODSC is a Colombian economist, politician, and former guerrilla fighter who is the current president of Colombia since 2022.  After taking office, Petro was considered by analysts as Colombia's first-ever left-wing president.

At 17 years of age, Petro became a member of the guerrilla group 19th of April Movement, which later evolved into the M-19 Democratic Alliance, a political party in which he was elected to be a member of the Chamber of Representatives in the 1991 Colombian parliamentary election. He served as a senator as a member of the Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA) party following the 2006 Colombian parliamentary election with the second-largest vote. In 2009, he resigned his position to run in the 2010 Colombian presidential election, finishing fourth in the race.

Due to ideological disagreements with the leaders of the PDA, he founded the Humane Colombia movement to compete for the mayoralty of Bogotá. On 30 October 2011, he was elected mayor in the local elections, a position he assumed on 1 January 2012.[8] In the first round of the 2018 Colombian presidential election, he came second with over 25% of the votes on 27 May and lost in the run-off election on 17 June.  He defeated Rodolfo Hernández Suárez in the second round of the 2022 Colombian presidential election on 19 June.