A leftist ex-guerrilla and a populist face off for the Colombian presidency

For most of the past century, Colombia was unaffected by the shifting tides of Latin American politics. During the 1960s and 1970s, when right-wing military dictatorships swept across the region, it had a restricted democracy in which two parties, the Liberals and Conservatives, agreed to share power every four years. As the pendulum swung towards the left in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Colombia elected a right-wing strongman. But now Colombian exceptionalism seems to have run its course. In the first round of presidential elections on May 29th, voters delivered a blow to the established parties that have ruled the country for most of its history.