Who is Claudia López, the mayor-elect of Bogotá, an environmentalist and a lesbian?

López, a lesbian political scientist, is known for her discipline, combative character, and working-class background.

October 28, 2019

The city voted to "unlearn sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, and xenophobia," said Bogotá's mayor-elect, Claudia López, in her speech amid a shower of green confetti and cheers from her supporters in a private auditorium. She will take office on January 1, 2020.

The candidate representing the Green Party and Democratic Pole coalition (left) won by less than three percentage points over her closest rival, the Liberal Party's Carlos Fernando Galán. She obtained 35.21% of the vote compared to 32.48% for the son of former presidential candidate Carlos Galán, who was assassinated by drug traffickers in 1989.

López, an openly lesbian political scientist, is known for her discipline, combative spirit, and working-class background. At 49, she achieved victory in a country historically governed by men from the conservative and liberal elites. As an academic researcher, she denounced the so-called parapolitics, an alliance between public leaders and bloodthirsty far-right groups, which led to her exile on two occasions.

Training and activism

López began his activism in the 1980s in the Student Movement and joined "La Séptima Papeleta", a group that promoted the convocation of a National Constituent Assembly, which was finally convened and produced the proclamation of the 1991 Constitution, which currently governs the country.

During those years, López studied Finance, Government, and International Relations at Externado University, a private institution she was able to access through a student loan. Two years later, in 1993, she took her first steps in politics, joining Enrique Peñalosa's campaign for Mayor of Bogotá, where she served as an official.

She also studied Public Administration and Urban Policy at Columbia University in New York, on a scholarship from the OAS and the IDB. After graduating, she worked for six years at the United Nations.

López returned to Colombia in 2004 and became a renowned researcher and political analyst. She directed the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE), an organization that monitors and oversees elections in Colombia. She published several investigations into the phenomenon of parapolitics, which formed the basis for the convictions of approximately 30% of the Colombian Congress after their links to paramilitary groups were proven.

Her first formal candidacy was in 2014, when she ran for the Senate of the Republic for the Green Alliance party and became the most voted woman.

"I'm not going to hide my life."

In 2018, she was part of the presidential ticket for Coalición Colombia, an alliance of center-left parties whose presidential candidate was Sergio Fajardo. López ended up being his running mate for vice president.

"I'm not going to hide anything in my life. I haven't done it in 49 years, I'm not going to start now (...) Being a woman is not a defect; being a woman of character, firm, outspoken, is not a defect. Being gay is not a defect; being the daughter of a humble family is not a defect," she said in her speech.

The mayor-elect is the romantic partner of Angélica Lozano, also a politician from the Green Alliance and current senator of the Republic.

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