Colombians prepare to vote for continuity or change
The second round of Colombia's presidential election will take place on Sunday, with voters choosing between continuity and change. Senator Ivan Cepeda, backed by the governing Historic Pact, seeks to continue President Petro's policies and negotiate with the ELN rebels. Abelardo de la Espriella of the Homeland Party, a businessman and singer, wants to end talks with the ELN and build maximum-security prisons. Neither candidate secured the required majority in the first round, so the electorate of roughly 40 million will return to the polls.
3 months ago
Colombians head to the polls for a runoff presidential election that will decide whether the country continues President Gustavo Petro’s peace‑negotiation strategy with the ELN or adopts a hard‑line approach that ends dialogue and expands maximum‑security prisons. 1
Senator Iván Cepeda, backed by the governing Historic Pact coalition, promises to maintain Petro’s policies, focus on poverty reduction, and pursue negotiations aimed at a final disarmament of the National Liberation Army (ELN). 1
Lawyer, businessman and singer Abelardo de la Espriella, the Homeland Party’s nominee, has no prior political experience, brands himself “The Tiger,” and pledges to halt all ELN talks, construct ten new maximum‑security prisons, and adopt an “iron‑fist” stance on security. 1
In the first round on 31 May, Cepeda received 40.9 % of the vote while de la Espriella led with 43.7 %; neither reached the 50 % threshold, triggering a second round on Sunday for Colombia’s roughly 40 million eligible voters. 1
The runoff will determine Colombia’s path toward ending six decades of armed conflict—either through continued negotiations or an immediate cessation of dialogue—while the incoming president must also confront a fiscal deficit that limits available funding for any policy agenda. 1*
How does Catholic social teaching guide peace negotiations in Colombia?
Catholic social teaching would guide peace negotiations in Colombia not primarily by offering a negotiation “strategy,” but by insisting that peace must be built on justice and truth, not on silence, fear, or ideological convenience—and that authentic reconciliation requires concrete steps that involve victims, address root causes, and reshape public attitudes.
Catholic teaching treats peace as more than the absence of war. The Church states that peace “is not merely the absence of war; nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies; nor is it brought about by dictatorship.” Instead, peace is “rightly and appropriately called an enterprise of justice.”
That “enterprise of justice” has several implications for negotiations in Colombia:
In Pope Francis’s reflection on Colombia, reconciliation is likewise treated as concrete and moral, not abstract sentiment: “Reconciliation is not a word that we should regard as abstract… What is needed is for some to courageously take the first step… without waiting for others to do so.”
Sources used: Gaudium et Spes 78 (peace as justice-based and ongoing); Pope Francis, Homily/Mass in Colombia (2017) on reconciliation as a concrete moral process.
Catholic social teaching connects peace directly to reconciliation with persons—especially those who have suffered. Pope Francis stresses that reconciliation must not become a tool for keeping wrongdoing unaddressed:
That warning is crucial in peace negotiations: a purely transactional settlement that postpones accountability or preserves structural harm would contradict the Catholic idea that peace is an “enterprise of justice” (not mere quiet).
Pope Francis also grounds Colombia’s peace journey in a lived Gospel pattern: taking the “first step” toward wounded neighbors and building peace “day by day, peace in love, in justice and in truth.”
Sources used: Pope Francis (2017 Colombia): reconciliation is concrete, requires victims to move beyond vengeance, and must not legitimize unjust situations; and peace in love/justice/truth.
For Catholic social teaching, negotiations must confront what generates conflict—not only how to end it. The Council teaches that to build peace, the “causes of discord… especially injustice, which foment wars must be rooted out.”
Two sets of root causes are highlighted:
Pope Paul VI similarly identifies extreme disparity as destabilizing: “Extreme disparity between nations in economic, social and educational levels provokes jealousy and discord, often putting peace in jeopardy.”
While that text addresses international inequality, its logic supports the Colombian negotiation context: peace requires attention to inequality and exclusion that can fuel resentment and violence.
So, Catholic social teaching would press Colombian peace negotiations to include provisions that:
Sources used: Gaudium et Spes 83 (root causes: injustice, inequality, distrust/pride); Populorum Progressio 76 (disparity provokes discord).
Catholic teaching also addresses the security dimension of negotiations. Gaudium et Spes warns against peace built on deterrence, arms accumulation, or fear:
Even if Colombia’s conflict is internal rather than between states, the moral point remains: negotiated peace should move beyond coercive fear toward trustworthy conditions and verifiable safeguards that protect rights and human dignity.
The Council also insists that peace efforts are not only institutional; they require hearts and public attitudes. It calls for “a renewed education of attitudes and for new inspiration in public opinion,” because hostility and distrust can sabotage agreements.
Sources used: Gaudium et Spes 81-82 (arms race as trap; mutual trust; disarmament with safeguards; need for education of attitudes and public opinion).
Catholic teaching emphasizes that peace is not only decided in elite rooms. Pope Francis points out that peace is made by actual persons and communities engaged in healing:
In Colombia specifically, Pope Francis’s “first step” logic also implies participation: reconciliation begins when some persons courageously open a door, and others can follow.
This can translate in negotiations into a strong Catholic preference for processes that:
Sources used: Pope Francis (Arena of Peace, 2024): peace made by the engaged people; accords from reality not ideologies; and Pope Francis (Colombia 2017): first step reconciliation without hiding injustice.
Catholic social teaching would guide Colombia’s peace negotiations toward settlements that are justice-based, truthful, morally credible, and trust-building: they should root out injustice and inequality, reject peace founded on fear or coercive power, prioritize reconciliation that does not hide wrongdoing, and involve the people—especially victims—in a process that can truly heal social life “in love, in justice and in truth.”