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Colombia Justa Libres (English: Fair Free Colombia; CJL) is a right-wing Colombian political party founded in 2017 that groups the majority of evangelical denominations in the country together. This includes, among others, Assemblies of God, Foursquare Church, Peace Mission to the Nations, and Spring of Eternal Life.[1][2][3] During the 2018 Colombian parliamentary election, four of its members were elected to the Congress of Colombia. After the 2022 legislative election, the party formed the Nos Une Colombia coalition with the MIRA. It has the slogan "Let's do it together!" and a youth wing known as "RUGE!".
Fair Free Colombia Colombia Justa Libres | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | CJL |
| President | Ricardo Arias Mora |
| General Secretary | José Fernando García Gómez |
| Founded | 11 December 2017 |
| Merger of | Colombia Justa, Libres |
| Youth wing | RUGE! |
| Ideology | Conservatism Christian democracy Christian right Agrarianism |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| National affiliation | Nos Une Colombia |
| Slogan | «Let's do it together!» (Spanish: «¡Hagámoslo Juntos!») |
| Seats in the Chamber of Representatives | 0 / 188
|
| Seats in the Senate | 1 / 108
|
| Website | |
| www | |
Ideology
editThe party adheres to conservatism in the anti-abortion framework with right-wing Christian democratic principles. It also adheres to a few Agrarian ideas.[4][5]
History
editColombia Justa Libres emerged from a merger of two political movements:
- Libres, a movement that had already participated in the 2015 Colombian regional and municipal elections, launched a list to the Bogotá City Council with Ricardo Arias Mora, leader of the movement, as a candidate for Mayor of Bogotá. Arias obtained around 100,000 votes. In addition, he presented the project of the family ministry to Former President Juan Manuel Santos after the plebiscite on the Colombian peace accords of 2016.[6][7] The list to the Bogotá city council managed to obtain over 70,000 votes and got a representative: Emel Rojas.[8]
- Colombia Justa, which began when Pastor Héctor Pardo of the Tabernáculo de la Fe Church, Pastor Eduardo Cañas of the Manantial de Vida Church, and Pastor John Milton Rodríguez of the Misión Paz a las Naciones Church participated in the peace dialogues between the Santos government and the FARC. After the meetings, they became disenchanted with participating in the dialogues, claiming that it "facilitated" the FARC's access to power.[9] The three pastors invited more leaders from Colombia. Four national and more than seventy regional calls were made to communicate with victims of the armed conflict, military, Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples, founding Colombia Justa.[9]
Colombia Justa and Libres subsequently constituted to be an influential group of citizens: Colombia Justa Libres on 11 December 2017.[10] The 2018 Colombian parliamentary election obtained 431,506 votes, 3%, which is necessary to constitute itself as a political party, achieving three senators and one representative.[11]
During the 2019 local elections, they supported the candidate at the time, Miguel Uribe Turbay, and obtained two seats in the Bogotá council.[citation needed]
In 2021, a conflict between the party's leadership occurred upon the resignation of Pastor Eduardo Cañas, whose position was filled by another of the directors: John Milton Rodríguez. This violated the party's statutes, as the Council of Elders intended to choose his replacement. Subsequently, Rodríguez, who faced no official opposition, with the permission of the party Supervisor Héctor Pardo, held a parallel assembly designating himself as the presidential candidate of the party, which was opposed by the other members, mainly Ricardo Arias Mora, another presidential candidate of the party, and Pardo, who later resigned from office. Arias led a lawsuit about this before the Electoral Council. [12] The case succeeded, and on 15 February 2022, the National Electoral Council revoked Rodríguez's presidential candidacy application. However, two months later, on 21 April, the Electoral Council decided to allow Rodríguez to compete as a presidential candidate because the legitimate authorities granted the application".[12]
Representatives
editCouncil of Bogotá
edit- Emel Rojas Castillo
- Marco Acosta Rico
House of Representatives
edit- Representative for Bogotá: Carlos Eduardo Acosta Lozano
Senate of the Republic
edit- John Milton Rodríguez
- Edgar Enrique Palacio
Election results
editLegislative elections
edit| Year | Senate | House of Representatives | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | |
| 2018 | 463 521 | 3 / 108
|
431 506 | 1 / 172
| ||
| 2022 (In coalition with MIRA) | 578 195 | 4 / 108
|
289 959 | 1 / 188
| ||
Religious sector coalition
edit| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Anuncio de la coalición Nos Une Colombia on YouTube |
In September 2021, the directors and members of Congress of Colombia Justa Libres agreed with the MIRA party to present joint lists to the Senate and the Chamber in more than seven departments or constituencies, calling it the Nos Une Colombia coalition. It seeks to promote and defend religious freedom in Colombia using elected members of Congress.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Entrega de 400 mil firmas". Palmira Tuluá. 11 December 2017. Archived from the original on 2 July 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
- ^ Rojas Ospina, David (2018). "Las fluctuaciones en la matriz religiosa colombiana y sus repercusiones en el campo Político". Siwo Revista de Teología. 9. doi:10.15359/siwo.9-1.6. S2CID 240145013. Retrieved 10 September 2018 – via ResearchGate.
- ^ "Colombia Justa-Libres, la apuesta electoral cristiana". elespectador.com. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ "Arranca el pulso por el Senado". elespectador.com (in Spanish). 14 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
- ^ "occidente.co:Cristianos jugarán duro en las elecciones legislativas". Archived from the original on 19 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
- ^ "Ricardo Arias". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 24 September 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
- ^ Reyes Fajardo, Juan Manuel. "El nuevo director de Derechos Humanos del Mininterior, anti LGBTI". Publimetro Colombia (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2019.
- ^ "Emel Rojas liderará la lista cristiana de Colombia Justa Libres en Bogotá". Las2orillas (in Spanish). 27 June 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
- ^ a b "Los cristianos que se cansaron de entregar sus votos a los políticos". Semana (in Spanish). 20 February 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
- ^ "Colombia Justa Libre inscribió a una mujer como candidata a alcaldía de Arauca". News Radio Arauca (in Spanish). 26 July 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
- ^ "CNE concedió personería jurídica a partido Colombia Justa y Libres". EL HERALDO (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2019.
- ^ a b "John Milton Rodríguez wins a pulse in the CNE and may be a presidential candidate". infobae (in European Spanish). 21 April 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
External links
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