Analysis: Colombia's extractive industries watching election warily

FILE PHOTO: Colombian left-wing presidential candidate Gustavo Petro of the Historic Pact coalition leaves the Congress of the Republic after make a statement on political alliances ahead of the next presidential elections in the second round, in Bogota, Colombia, May 31, 2022. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's leftist firebrand presidential candidate Gustavo Petro is too close in recent polls for the comfort of oil companies and miners who worry that his promised policies would imperil Colombia's economy and energy self-sufficiency, high-ranking industry figures and business associations said.

Petro, currently a senator, told a rally last month that coal and oil are akin to cocaine: "Our three main exports are poisons." He has won support vowing profound change, including social and economic reform in Colombia, where about half the population lives in some form of poverty.