Every second spent along the route is a risk for passenger Esneyder Gomez, a46-year-old Indigenous candidate hoping to win election to Colombia'sCongress on March 8. AFP recently followed Gomez as he trudged village to village along muddyroads, trying to win the votes of Indigenous communities. "The risk is constant," Gomez says, noting wryly that in the decade-and-a-half since Colombia's biggest armed groups signed a peace deal, peace remainselusive. Along the road, armed rebels man checkpoints where travellers must identifythemselves. The area will be a test of whether Colombia's elections can be free, fair andsafe across the whole country.

Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha February 19, 2026 07:31 UTC