Former guerrilla Gustavo Petro is Colombia’s first leftist president to announce a turnaround in the South American country. “I don’t want two countries, just as I don’t want two societies. I want a strong, fair and united Colombia,” he said on Sunday when he took office in the capital Bogotá. His inaugural address was broadcast on screens across the country, with thousands of people celebrating in Plaza Bolivar and across the country.
The former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement announced that he will unite the polarized country in the fight against inequality and climate change and make peace with left-wing rebels and organized crime gangs. “The challenges and trials we face as a nation require an era of unity and basic consensus,” Petro said, proposing an international fund to protect the Amazon rainforest. “Where is the Global Fund for the Conservation of the Amazon Rainforest? We can turn the entire population of the Colombian Amazon into protectors of the forest, but we need financial help from around the world to do that.”
To protect the “lungs of the planet”, the international community could reduce its country’s external debt to finance actions to protect and reforest tropical forests. If the International Monetary Fund “helps turn debt into concrete action on climate change, we will create a thriving new economy and new life for humanity,” said Petro, who has campaigned for the expansion of renewable energy and the fight against deforestation in the Amazon – Rainforest had promised. According to environmental organizations, at least 7,018 square kilometers of Colombia’s rainforest were destroyed during the tenure of Petro’s predecessor, Iván Duque.
The new president wants to revive failed peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and promises FARC fighters reduced sentences in exchange for information. “We urge all who are armed to leave their weapons in the dust of the past. Accept legal benefits in exchange for peace and an end to violence once and for all,” Petro said. Also on his list of priorities is tackling the problem of hunger in the country of 50 million inhabitants, where almost half of the population lives in poverty. Treasury Secretary Jose Antonio Ocampo will propose a $5.8 billion tax reform to Congress on Monday that would raise taxes on the highest earners to fund welfare programs. In addition, access to education must be facilitated and the health system reformed.
Several foreign leaders, such as Chilean President Gabriel Boric, Argentine leader Alberto Fernández, Bolivian President Luis Arce and King Felipe VI of Spain. participated in the opening ceremony. The outrage was sparked when the outgoing Conservative government refused at the last moment to hand over the sword of national hero Simón Bolívar and the sculpture “Pomba da Paz” by artist Fernando Botero, which were to be displayed at the presidential inauguration.
In the June 19 runoff, Petro defeated populist real estate entrepreneur Rodolfo Hernández. With her vice president Francia Márquez, a black woman is rising to the top of the state for the first time. Petro has a large majority in a parliament made up of left and centrist parties to initiate economic and social change in the Andean country beset by riots and drug problems.
The challenges for the new head of state are great: Colombia is grappling with the economic fallout from the corona pandemic, massive social injustice and widespread violence. The former conservative government of President Iván Duque only implemented the peace agreement with the FARC without much enthusiasm. Many ex-combatants therefore went underground and joined criminal gangs. (apa/Portal/dpa)