‘Fico’ Wins Medellin Mayoralty, Rendon Wins Antioquia Governorship; Petro, Quintero, Perez Trashed by Voters

Enormously popular former Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez (“Fico,” right in photo, above) last night (October 28) recorded a smashing, runaway second-term victory with 73% of the vote, beating hugely unpopular Mayor Daniel Quintero’s hand-picked successor, Juan Carlos Upegui, who garnered an historically pathetic 10% of total votes.

In similar fashion, former Rionegro Mayor Andres Julian Rendon (left in photo, above) becomes Antioquia’s new Governor, easily beating former Antioquia Governor Luis Perez (unpopularly tagged with the corrupt moniker of “Luis the 15th”) by 36.7% to 23.8% — with three other minor candidates splitting the bulk of the remaining departmental votes.

What’s more, the center-right coalition that backed Fico and Rendon – including Centro Democratico Party (founded by former Colombia President Alvaro Uribe) and the centrist “Creemos” Party founded by Fico – took nearly all the seats in Medellin’s City Council, ensuring dramatic changes that aim to reverse huge damage caused by the corruption-plagued, demagogic Mayor Quintero administration.

Among the expected moves: Replacement of the entire current Board of Directors of public utility EPM, who were hand-picked by Quintero following the mass resignation of the prior Board – all triggered by Mayor Quintero’s wild, unsubstantiated allegations over supposed corruption at the US$5 billion “Hydroituango” hydroelectric project.

That Quintero demagoguery not only triggered damaging, negative reactions on Wall Street, but also punched financial holes in EPM, which provides 25% of the City of Medellin’s annual budget.

Meanwhile, voters in most of Colombia’s departments — including Antioquia – last night elected centrist and center-right Governors, while all the major cities in Colombia elected Mayors who — like Fico — oppose the similarly scandal-plagued, demagogic President Gustavo Petro administration. This trend severely undercuts Petro’s radical proposals for national health-care, pensions and problematic guerrilla “peace deals,” as pending in the national Congress.

For Medellin’s newly elected Mayor “Fico” Gutierrez, among his biggest initial challenges upon taking office January 1 include repairing grossly neglected public-schools infrastructure, fixing a similarly falling-apart public-hospital/clinic network, and reorientation of EPM priorities away from money-losing ventures – as well as repairing Quintero’s unjustified trashing of ties with Medellin’s industrial-commercial-entrepreneurial base.

For Antioquia’s newly elected Governor Rendon, critical challenges include finding ways to restore or make-up funding for crucial, not-yet-completed “4G” highways — including the Pacifico 1, Pacifico 2 and Mar 2 routes, which eventually connect Medellin to major import/export centers — as well as the in-development “Puerto Antioquia” ocean-freight port on the Atlantic.