Where is Paloma Valencia, and why is she not appearing at such a crucial historical moment?

    By Luis Alberto Villamarín Pulido

    On the night of her shameful, though anticipated and obvious, defeat at the polls—a defeat stemming from her physical and mental limitations—to serve as president of the republic, an aspirational desire fueled by an enormous ego and a fanciful assumption of leadership, Ms. Paloma Valencia appeared before the media to express her undying love and full support for the winner of the first round.

    But after that night, Ms. Valencia vanished from the political scene. She's nowhere to be seen... Is this the result of her immense, crushed ego?

    Or is it because, after revealing her true colors during the campaign, having declared herself a moralistic champion, she ended up mired in the same political decay as Santos, Uribe, Samper, Petro, and others, who usually ally themselves with Satan himself to reach heaven... just as bad as, or even worse than, the corrupt communists.

    The truth is that Paloma Valencia and her messianic mentor, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, know—however much they deny it—that by prioritizing the return of votes over electoral viability, they not only torpedoed the opposition's victory in the first round but also gave Petro's corrupt supporters the opportunity to commit fraud in the second round, which wouldn't be surprising.

    With this attitude, Ms. Paloma Valencia practically buried the Democratic Center as a party capable of garnering votes in every election. Just as Rafael Pardo Rueda did to bury the Liberal Party, and Martha Lucía Ramírez did to bury the Conservative Party.

    These are not mere coincidences.

Of course, it should be noted that if the Democratic Center's candidate had been Ms. Cabal or Ms. Holguín, the result wouldn't have been any different, because Uribe Vélez would have played his political cards in the same way… The die was already cast for that party and the opposition in general.

    It's not a matter of gender. The sad reality is that Colombia lacks serious political parties and, by obvious deduction, statesmen capable of leading the nation. Whether they are men or women, the problem remains the same.

    Instead, populists, promise-makers, and perverse individuals abound, capable of anything to win, using the cunning excuse that they are forging alliances…

    Absolute moral and political decay disguised as a comprehensive democratic vision.

    Probably tomorrow, June 21st, Colombians will choose Mr. De La Espriella, who embodies millions of anti-communist sentiments and impulses, along with thousands of disillusioned people who have accumulated over the last 70 years due to the same old corruption and the political cesspool created by Petro's regime.

    The problem isn't that De La Espriella wins, because at that point, there will be more sensible, convinced voters who will vote against the socialist cancer of the 21st century, which has been discredited here by Petro and his cronies.

    The real challenge will begin on the night of June 21st.

    Petro and his criminal group will want to set Colombia ablaze, or at the very least, initiate urban terrorist opposition disguised as social protest.

    Meanwhile, the morally corrupt Congress of the Republic will continue to be the cesspool of political maneuvering, which it has been for decades. Contrary to its stated purpose of upholding institutional integrity, it will instead be driven by self-interest, oblivious to the prolonged national tragedy.

    The Military and Police Forces will continue, as they have historically been, to serve as the bastion of the current president, standing firm against the criminals who proliferate like weeds as a result of the accumulated disastrous decisions of government officials and members of parliament, and the enduring perversity of communist violence, now financed by drug trafficking and illegal mining.

    In the end, the politicians who are setting the country ablaze will act like Ms. Valencia... by uncovering scandals, or with shouting, political maneuvering, demagoguery, etc.

     Due to the dynamics of habit, we will recycle ourselves in new elections... Fajardo will continue to collect billions of pesos, the product of the well-orchestrated centrist farce; the same old faces or their offspring will fill the ranks of perpetual corruption; the faces of the gravediggers of the pseudo-political parties will appear on stamps and banknotes as exalted servants of the country; the communists will have spaces to commit crimes with their armed wings; and the Colombian people, just as they are today, will wait for the messiah who will perform a miracle.

    Therefore, tomorrow's election must be voted with more hope than objectivity. Electing Cepeda would be a conscious collective suicide.

    There is no other option but to vote for De La Espriella.

   And starting Monday, or better yet, from the moment De La Espriella takes the stage to accept the election, we must demand that he not behave like a petty pharaoh obsessed with ridiculous spectacles, that he select experts in each area, and  to develop strategic plans for each portfolio in his cabinet, take ownership of border policy, etc., but he shouldn't think that soldiers and police are his personal pawns, as all his predecessors have done. Without exception…

Meanwhile, the Abelardo supporters, fervently convinced that the country's salvation lies with him, must move from emotional appeals to organizing a long-term project, in which, starting with Abelardo himself, they understand that they are not the end but the means.

If they truly love Colombia, and aren't going to be a rebranded version of Paloma Valencia, talking about unity, values, ethics, and security, but ultimately only driven by their own selfish interests… besides being the gravediggers of parties like Pardo Rueda and Martha Lucia.

Time will tell…

Meanwhile, Colombia continues to demand serious political leadership.