Gustavo Petro Biography

Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego (born April 19, 1960) is a leftist Colombian politician, economist, and presidential candidate who previously served as mayor of Bogotá. He was a member of the guerrilla group 19th of April Movement in the 1980s, which later evolved into the Alianza Democrática M-19, a political party in which Petro also participated as a member of the national congress in the 1990s. Petro also served as a senator as a member of the Alternative Democratic Pole party following the 2006 legislative elections with the second largest vote in the country. In 2009, he resigned his position to aspire to the presidency of Colombia in the 2010 Colombian presidential election, finishing fourth in the race.