Guests arrive in Colombia for the inauguration ceremony of Gustavo Petro as President of Colombia for the period 2022-2026. The Presidents of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, and Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, are already in Bogotá and have delivered a message to the new Colombian President.
“We will continue to strengthen cooperative relations, mainly in the area of security, between Paraguay and Colombia. We hope that in this new phase that Colombia is beginning, we can also continue to strengthen these ties,” said the Paraguayan President, recalling the assassination of the Paraguayan prosecutor in Cartagena. He also addressed a message of gratitude to outgoing President Iván Duque and the Colombian authorities who found the perpetrators of Marcelo Pecci’s murder.
For his part, President Guillermo Lasso of Ecuador also emphasized that he hopes to maintain binational relations with Colombia now under the government of Gustavo Petro.
“Ecuador remains committed to becoming part of the Pacific Alliance and that is one of the issues I will be discussing with President Petro, among others‘ Lasso indicated upon his arrival in Bogotá.
The Ecuadorian President also stressed that Colombia and Ecuador must maintain dialogues for security ties and economic integration between the two nations.
The inauguration of Gustavo Petro takes place at the Casa de Nariño in Bogotá. This event starts at 10:00 am and can follow television week in Colombia and in every country in the world. However, the possession of Gustavo Petro as such is scheduled for this Sunday, August 7th at 15:00 in the afternoon.
Gustavo Petro’s government draws closer to Iran
This Saturday, August 6, Foreign Minister-designate Álvaro Leyva met with the Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran for Parliamentary Affairs, Seyed Mohammad Hosseini.
According to Leyva, “a dialogue was held on strategic issues of bilateral relations”.
In addition, Leyva met with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Lasha Darsalia; Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos Alberto Franca; Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovi; including the Ibero-American Secretary General of Chile, Andrés Allamand.
With each representative, he discussed, among other things, global challenges, trade, education, culture, technical cooperation on citizen security, strengthening of territories.
This morning, the Foreign Minister (D) held a dialogue on strategic issues of bilateral relations with the Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran 🇮🇷
in parliamentary affairs
Sayed Mohammad Hosseini. pic.twitter.com/zNFnOdGbTS– Alvaro Leyva Durán (@AlvaroLeyva) August 6, 2022
However, one of the meetings that attracted the most attention was the meeting with the Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran on parliamentary matters. Although diplomatic relations between Colombia and Iran have existed since 1975, outgoing Defense Minister Diego Molano surprisingly branded Iran an enemy country some time ago.
Late last year, Molano said from the Israeli President’s residence: “Of course we have a common enemy here and that is the case of Iran and Hezbollah, which operates against Israel but also supports the Venezuelan regime. . . It is an important intelligence and intelligence effort that we have developed with the armed forces and the Israeli Ministry of Defense.”
Last year, WEEK revealed how official Venezuelan regime documents revealed a dangerous negotiation between Venezuela and Iran, This included the supply of weapons, including missiles. Álex Saab from Barranquilla, who is now incarcerated in the US, played a key role in this alliance. Even when Saab was captured in Cape Verde, his ultimate target was Iran.
It is worth noting that Leyva visited Venezuela on July 28, where he met with Governor Freddy Alirio Bernal at the Palacio de Los Leones in the city of San Cristóbal, the seat of the administration.
According to the government, it was a “binational meeting between brother countries, Colombia and Venezuela”.
Later, Leyva had a meeting with his counterpart in Venezuela, Foreign Minister Carlos Faría.
According to the official account of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Venezuela, it was an attempt to restore ties between the two countries.