Colombian President-Elect Must Choose: Free Trade or Chavismo

Colombian President-Elect Must Choose: Free Trade or Chavismo
Colombia's new President Ivan Duque (L) receives the presidential sash from Senate President Ernesto Macias during his inauguration ceremony at Bolivar Square in Bogota, on Aug. 7, 2018. RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images
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The economic and humanitarian debacle that 21st-century socialism has unleashed in Venezuela was a decisive factor in the recent presidential campaign in neighboring Colombia.
Therefore, it came as a relief to those hoping to avoid mass expropriations, wide-scale scarcities, and hyperinflation that Colombian voters successfully warded off the Bolivarians at their gates on June 17.