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Colombia Elects Pro-Market President Who Attacked Peace Deal

By Matthew Bristow

“Duque is very much a creature of Washington who’d love to be Colombia’s Emmanuel Macron," said AS/COA's Brian Winter regarding Colombia's president-elect leadership style. 

Ivan Duque, a 41-year-old lawyer and former senator who wants to modify parts of a peace process with Marxist guerrillas and cut corporate taxes, will be Colombia’s next president following a decisive election victory on Sunday.

Duque, who spent half his adult life in Washington, is the protege of former President Alvaro Uribe, a polarizing security hard-liner. Whether he’ll be able to emerge from Uribe’s shadow to promote his technocratic plans to boost the “creative economy” and overhaul the tax agency may depend on the severity of a series of crises hitting the country.

These include a flood of hungry Venezuelan refugees, record cocaine production which is straining the country’s relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, and the threat of further downgrades in Colombia’s credit rating.

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