Her candidacy is a collective project, not an individual one
En la Colombia de mediados de diciembre, el Centro Democrático eligió a la senadora Paloma Valencia como su candidata presidencial para 2026, cerrando un ciclo interno y abriendo otro más amplio. Valencia, abogada de 47 años con raíces en el conservatismo histórico del país, encarna la apuesta de la derecha organizada por recuperar el poder frente a un gobierno que sus adversarios describen como una amenaza a las instituciones. Su nominación no es solo un acto partidario: es el primer movimiento visible en el tablero electoral que definirá el rumbo de Colombia en los próximos años.
- El Centro Democrático necesitaba una figura capaz de unificar a una oposición fragmentada, y la elección de Valencia sobre dos senadoras igualmente prominentes revela cuánto está en juego internamente.
- El partido lanza su candidatura con un lenguaje de urgencia, advirtiendo que el modelo 'castro-chavista' del gobierno actual está radicalizando reformas que consideran destructivas para el país.
- Valencia intenta ampliar el atractivo de la derecha con un programa que combina libertad económica con protección social, apuntando especialmente a jóvenes, mujeres y madres solteras.
- La sombra de Álvaro Uribe, fundador del partido y presente de manera virtual en el anuncio, recuerda que el liderazgo real del movimiento sigue siendo una fuerza que Valencia deberá navegar, no solo heredar.
- En marzo de 2026, Valencia enfrentará consultas interpartidistas donde la coalición conservadora buscará consolidarse en un solo candidato, un proceso cuyo resultado está lejos de ser seguro.
Un lunes de diciembre, el Centro Democrático presentó a la senadora Paloma Valencia como su candidata para las elecciones presidenciales de 2026. Valencia, abogada de 47 años con más de doce años en el Senado, se impuso en una encuesta interna sobre las senadoras María Fernanda Cabal y Paola Holguín, dos figuras igualmente influyentes dentro del partido.
Valencia no llega sola a este escenario: es nieta del expresidente conservador Guillermo León Valencia y descendiente por línea materna de Mario Laserna, filósofo y fundador de la Universidad de los Andes. Esa genealogía la sitúa en una tradición de conservatismo institucional con profundas raíces en las élites educadas del país.
El presidente del partido, Gabriel Vallejo, presentó su candidatura ante simpatizantes en Bogotá como un momento decisivo, describiendo a Valencia como una líder con experiencia, carácter y visión. El discurso oficial enmarcó su nominación como una respuesta al avance de lo que el partido denomina un modelo 'castro-chavista', al que acusa de radicalizar reformas dañinas para Colombia.
En su intervención, Valencia subrayó que su candidatura era un proyecto colectivo, no personal. Rindió homenaje al senador asesinado Miguel Uribe Turbay y al expresidente Álvaro Uribe, quien participó virtualmente en el acto y cuya influencia sobre el partido sigue siendo determinante. Su plataforma combinó propuestas de libertad económica con compromisos sociales: empleo digno, seguridad, reducción de la pobreza, atención a jóvenes y un sistema integral de cuidado para madres solteras.
El siguiente paso será marzo de 2026, cuando Valencia represente al Centro Democrático en consultas interpartidistas destinadas a unificar a la derecha en un solo candidato. Si logrará convertirse en esa figura unificadora es, por ahora, una pregunta abierta.
On a Monday in mid-December, Colombia's Centro Democrático party formally announced its choice for the 2026 presidential race: Senator Paloma Valencia, a 47-year-old lawyer who has spent more than a dozen years in the Colombian Senate. The decision came through an internal party survey, where Valencia prevailed over two fellow senators, María Fernanda Cabal and Paola Holguín, both also prominent figures within the right-wing opposition coalition.
Valencia carries significant political lineage. She is the granddaughter of Guillermo León Valencia, who served as Colombia's conservative president from 1962 to 1966. On her mother's side, she descends from Mario Laserna, a philosopher and university founder who established the Universidad de los Andes, now regarded as Colombia's leading private institution. This genealogy places her within a particular strand of Colombian conservatism—institutional, educated, connected to the country's traditional power structures.
Gabriel Vallejo, the party president, presented Valencia to supporters gathered in Bogotá with language that framed the moment as consequential. He described her selection as a decisive move for the party, one that reflected confidence in a leader with experience, character, and a coherent vision for the nation. The party's statement emphasized that Valencia represented a path toward what it called the recovery of Colombia—language that positioned the Centro Democrático as a corrective force against what Vallejo characterized as a "castro-chavista" model of governance that he argued was deepening and radicalizing reforms destructive to the country.
In her own remarks, Valencia stressed that her candidacy was not a personal project but a collective one, built on foundations laid by others. She paid tribute to Miguel Uribe Turbay, a senator assassinated years earlier, and to Álvaro Uribe, the former president who founded the Centro Democrático and remains its intellectual leader. Uribe participated in the announcement virtually, underscoring his continued influence over the party's direction.
Valencia outlined her campaign priorities with deliberate breadth. She emphasized the creation of dignified income for Colombians, security, and poverty reduction alongside environmental protection. She signaled particular attention to young people and education, and expressed support for entrepreneurs and women—especially single mothers, for whom she pledged to establish what she called a comprehensive care system. These commitments sketched a platform that attempted to blend market-oriented economics with social provision, a balance the right-wing opposition has long sought to articulate.
The Centro Democrático's selection of Valencia sets the stage for the next phase of Colombia's electoral calendar. In March 2026, the party will participate in inter-party consultations designed to produce a unified right-wing candidate for the general election. Valencia will represent the Centro Democrático in those negotiations, where the fragmented opposition will attempt to consolidate behind a single figure capable of challenging the leftist government currently in power. Whether Valencia emerges from those talks as the unified conservative nominee remains uncertain, but her selection now positions her as the leading voice of one of Colombia's most organized opposition forces.
Citações Notáveis
The Centro Democrático takes a major step toward Colombia's recovery, moving firmly to defeat a castro-chavista model of government that seeks to deepen and radicalize reforms destroying the country.— Gabriel Vallejo, Centro Democrático party president
My candidacy is a collective project, not an individual one. I stand on a ladder I did not build alone.— Paloma Valencia
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a party choose someone through an internal survey rather than, say, a primary election open to members?
It's faster, more controlled. The party leadership shapes the outcome. In a broader primary, you risk fracturing the coalition or elevating someone the establishment doesn't trust. This way, the Centro Democrático signals unity and direction without exposing internal divisions to the public.
Valencia beat two other female senators. Was that deliberate—choosing a woman?
Possibly. The party may have calculated that a woman candidate appeals to voters the current government claims to represent. But it's also that these three were the serious contenders within the party. Gender and strategy aren't separate here.
Her family connections—grandfather as president, great-grandfather founding a university. Does that help or hurt her?
Both. It signals stability and institutional credibility to voters who fear chaos. But it also makes her vulnerable to accusations of privilege, of representing the old order rather than change. In a country with deep inequality, that's a real tension.
The party talks about "castro-chavista" governance. What does that language do?
It's a frame. It tells supporters that the current government is authoritarian, foreign-influenced, ideologically extreme. It's not a neutral description—it's a political weapon. It unites the right by giving them a clear enemy.
What happens in March 2026 when the right-wing parties meet?
They'll try to agree on one candidate. If they succeed, they present a unified front. If they fail, they split the conservative vote and likely hand the election to the left. Valencia's job is to be that unifying figure—or at least to be acceptable enough that other parties don't feel forced to run their own candidate.