On Sunday, voters in Colombia will close out one of the most interesting free elections ever held in South America.
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| photo by Tim Elfrink |
| Supporters of Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus have left street art all over Cartagena. |
Last month, thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and a huge push from young voters, a quirky Green Party candidate
named Antanas Mockus came from nowhere to
force the establishment ticket into a runoff vote for the presidency.
I spent the last week in Cartagena, on Colombia's Caribbean coast (including an "unscheduled" extra few days thanks to the Spirit Airline strike). In the mango-shaded parks dotting the colonial Old Town, the election is narrowly edging out the World Cup to dominate the old man debate circuit.
But the most interesting sign of the election I saw around town was Mockus' supporters guerilla street-art, which clearly echoes Shepard Fairey's iconic work for Obama's campaign
Click through for more photos of the Colombian version of the "Hope" poster.
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| photo by Tim Elfrink |
| Mockus' graffiti is plastered on abandoned buildings ... |
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| photo by Tim Elfrink |
| ... and outside cafes ... |
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| photo by Tim Elfrink |
| ... and on doorways ... |
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| photo by Tim Elfrink |
| ... and on torn-up concert posters. |
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| photo by Tim Elfrink |
| At least in Old Town Cartagena, I saw many fewer posters for the mainstream candidate, Juan Manuel Santos (although he leads the latest polls by a huge margin.) When I did see supporters, they had more conventional signs like this. |
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| photo by Tim Elfrink |
| A Mockus sign on an old-school car. |
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