Here I remain, standing.
From the street where his father's body lay in 1994 to the threshold of Colombia's presidency, Iván Cepeda's journey traces the long arc of a nation trying to reckon with its own violence. The 63-year-old human rights defender and senator has advanced to a June 21 runoff against a far-right opponent, carrying with him the weight of over 5,700 assassinated leftist comrades and a lifetime of measured, unbroken resistance. His candidacy asks whether Colombia's fragile leftward turn can deepen into something lasting, or whether the forces that once silenced his father will find new ways to prevail.
- A man who survived exile, cancer twice, and the murder of his father and political godfather now stands one election away from the Colombian presidency.
- His far-right opponent and critics are mobilizing around the label of 'FARC sympathizer,' seeking to delegitimize decades of peace-building work as ideological contamination.
- Cepeda's 'total peace' policy—negotiating with all armed groups—represents both his deepest conviction and his most politically exposed flank.
- The runoff on June 21 will determine whether the leftist reforms begun under Gustavo Petro can be extended and made irreversible, or reversed by a resurgent right.
- Cepeda enters the final stretch not as a firebrand but as a philosopher-politician of unusual calm, betting that composure and institutional credibility can carry a revolution forward.
Iván Cepeda was a philosophy teacher when he found his father shot dead on a Bogotá street in 1994. Manuel Cepeda, a communist politician and journalist, had been killed by state agents working alongside paramilitaries—part of a campaign that would claim more than 5,700 leftist party members. Standing near the body, the young man gave a television interview with striking composure, calling on those responsible for justice to act.
The loss defined everything that followed. Cepeda had already known exile—his family fled to Czechoslovakia, Cuba, and Bulgaria when he was three. Returning to Colombia, he became a human rights defender, then a legislator, serving sixteen years in Congress. He helped broker the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC, and in a legal battle spanning more than a decade, he proved in court that former president Álvaro Uribe had bribed imprisoned paramilitaries. Uribe was sentenced to twelve years of house arrest.
Now sixty-three, Cepeda has advanced to a presidential runoff on June 21 against far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella. He is the chosen successor of Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, and the two men could hardly be more different in style. Where Petro is combative and volcanic, Cepeda is measured, almost austere—writing his speeches by hand, speaking Czech and Russian, having survived colon and liver cancer without apparent loss of resolve.
His critics call him a guerrilla sympathizer; he counters that no court has ever found evidence to support the charge. He rejects the Marxist label while admiring Gramsci and Gandhi, advocates for 'productive capitalism,' and defines himself simply as a progressive. He is the architect of Petro's 'total peace' policy, which seeks negotiated settlements with all armed groups in the country.
In campaign speeches, Cepeda has spoken of surviving 'genocide, stigmatization, and relentless persecution.' Should he win, he has pledged to deepen the social reforms of the Petro years—changes he calls irreversible revolutions. The election will test whether Colombia's leftward shift can be extended, and for Cepeda personally, it is a final reckoning with the violence that made him who he is.
Iván Cepeda was a philosophy teacher when he found his father shot dead on a Bogotá street. The year was 1994. His father, Manuel Cepeda, was a communist politician and journalist. State agents working alongside paramilitaries had killed him as part of a broader campaign of terror. Standing near the body, the young man gave a television interview with striking composure. "I just witnessed something so terrible," he said, calling on those responsible for justice to act against what he described as an offensive targeting leftist leaders.
That murder would define everything that followed. Cepeda was three years old when his family went into exile—first to Czechoslovakia, then Cuba, then Bulgaria—fleeing the persecution that had claimed his father. When he returned to Colombia, he became a human rights defender, a role that would shape his career in ways both personal and political. His father was one of more than 5,700 members of a leftist party assassinated during that campaign of state-sponsored violence. The loss never left him.
Other deaths marked him too. His mother died of a brain tumor at thirty-seven. Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa, his political godfather and a presidential candidate, was assassinated in 1990. These accumulations of grief might have broken someone else. Instead, Cepeda channeled them into work. He served sixteen years in Congress, from 2010 to 2026, winning four elections. He played a crucial role in Colombia's 2016 peace process, helping to disarm the FARC. And in a legal battle spanning more than a decade, he took on former president Álvaro Uribe, a powerful figure of the right, and proved in court that Uribe had bribed imprisoned paramilitaries. Uribe was sentenced to twelve years of house arrest, though a judge later revoked that sentence.
Now, at sixty-three, Cepeda has advanced to a presidential runoff scheduled for June 21. His opponent is Abelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer. Cepeda represents the consolidation of leftist power in Colombia—he is the chosen candidate of the left to succeed his ally Gustavo Petro, the country's first leftist president. The two men are strikingly different in temperament. Petro is eloquent and combative, a former guerrilla fighter who sparks confrontation daily. Cepeda is measured, almost austere. He writes out his speeches with meticulous care. He does not lose his composure. He speaks Czech and Russian. He practiced ice hockey. He has never been baptized, a notable fact in a deeply Catholic country. He chose not to have children and lives with his wife and three chow chow dogs.
Cepeda has survived cancer twice—colon cancer and liver cancer, both treated with chemotherapy. In 2022 he spoke of his fear of dying. Today he says he is in good health. His critics call him a FARC sympathizer, a "heir to the guerrillas," because of the trust he built with rebel leaders during the peace process. He rejects the label of Marxist, though he admires Gandhi and the Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci. He has written books on Freud and Foucault. He advocates for what he calls "productive capitalism" and defines himself as a progressive, rejecting traditional Soviet models despite his years living in Eastern Bloc countries.
He is the architect of Petro's "total peace" policy, which seeks to negotiate with all armed groups in the country. This has made him a target of criticism from the right. His detractors demand proof of illegal connections; Cepeda counters that they have presented none to the courts. In campaign speeches, he has spoken of surviving "genocide, stigmatization, and relentless persecution." "And here I remain, standing," he said.
If he wins the runoff, Cepeda has committed to deepening the social reforms of Petro's government—reforms he calls "revolutions." He frames them as urgent transformations the country desperately needs, and as changes meant to be irreversible. The election will test whether Colombia's leftist turn, consolidated in Petro's presidency, can be extended and deepened, or whether the right can reclaim power. For Cepeda, it is also a final reckoning with the violence that shaped him—a chance to move his country toward the future he has spent his life fighting for.
Citas Notables
I just witnessed something so terrible. I ask those responsible for justice to act against this offensive targeting leftist leaders.— Iván Cepeda, in television interview moments after finding his father's body in 1994
I have survived genocide, stigmatization, and relentless persecution. And here I remain, standing.— Iván Cepeda, in campaign speech
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
What does it mean that he was standing over his father's body and gave a television interview? That seems almost impossible to do.
It was a choice, I think. He was young, but he was already thinking like an activist. He didn't collapse into private grief. He made his pain public, made it political. He said what needed to be said about what was happening to his party, his people.
And then he spent decades in exile as a child. How does that shape someone?
It removes you from your country, from your language, from the ground beneath your feet. But it also teaches you that the world is larger than the place that tried to kill your father. He learned Czech, Russian, ice hockey. He became someone who could move between worlds.
He's described as austere, careful with words. Is that a strength in politics?
In a country where the other leftist leader is combative and provocative, yes. Cepeda thinks in decades. He doesn't need to win every argument today. He's willing to negotiate with armed groups, to build slowly. That patience is either wisdom or naivety, depending on what happens next.
What about the accusation that he's a FARC sympathizer?
He built trust with the rebels during peace negotiations. That's not sympathy—that's the work of making peace. But in a polarized country, trust looks like betrayal to the other side. He can't prove a negative. All he can do is point to what he actually built.
He survived two cancers. Does that change how you see his candidacy?
It makes him mortal in a way that matters. He's not running on ideology alone. He's running as someone who has looked at death and kept going. That's a different kind of authority.