Gustavo Petro He took the oath this Sunday as the first left-wing president of Colombia, before hundreds of thousands of people who accompany the investiture ceremony in Bogotá. “I swear to God and promise the people to faithfully comply with the Constitution and the laws of Colombia,” said the 62-year-old former senator and former guerrilla fighter before the head of Congress in the central Plaza de Bolívar.
The mandatary He was invested by Senator María José Pizarro, daughter of Carlos Pizarro, who was a partner of Petro in the M-19 guerrilla and he was assassinated in 1990 when he was a presidential candidate and the intention to vote gave him 60%.
The congresswoman, in tears, put the presidential sash on the new president and gave him a hug amid the applause of the attendees. After being sworn in, Barreras put a “dove of peace” on his lapel, which symbolizes one of the main promises of his government, that of achieving “total peace” in Colombia.
The former senator, who left the armed rebellion three decades ago, took the oath of office after 15 local hours, in front of a large delegation of international guests.
Petro, who succeeds to power Ivan Dukewill govern for four years a country of 50 million inhabitants that for the first time it will enter the orbit of the left in the region.
“The first government that we hope will be one of peace is going to begin. That he can bring to Colombia what it has not had for centuries and that is tranquility and peace. Here begins a government that will fight for environmental justice,” Petro said on Saturday at an event in Bogotá.
Together with Petro, the environmentalist was invested France Marquez (40) as the first black vice president of a nation that was historically ruled by white male elites.“I swear to God and to the people to faithfully comply with the Constitution and the laws of Colombia and I also swear before my ancestors and ancestors,” said Márquez, in his oath, in which he added his already characteristic phrase: “Until dignity becomes custom ”.
Colombia thus enters a period of change, with a leftist in command, a Congress in his favor and a weakened opposition after the decline of former president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), the head of the right. Petro starts from an “enviable position, with a large majority in Congress and, in terms of the street, has support that no government had before in recent years,” he tells the press. AFP the analyst Jorge Restrepo from the Resource Center for Conflict Analysis (Cerac).
FIRST CHANGES
Petro put together a cabinet of diverse tendencies, with women at the head of several portfolios and the mission of carrying out reforms that will begin their legislative course on Monday. Among them is the project that will raise taxes on the richest, fine-tune collection and record sugary drinks, in search of resources for social plans.
“The level of indebtedness and fiscal deficit that we find for the next four years is critical,” said Daniel Rojas, one of the coordinators of the junction commission with the Duque government.
Even so, Petro has proposed to reduce the gap between rich and poor, one of the widest in the continent along with that of Brazil, with greater access to credit, subsidies and public education.
After the ravages of the pandemic, the economy recovers its growth although inflation, which reached 10.2% in the interannual variation in July, unemployment (11.7%) and poverty that punishes 39% of the population cloud the picture.
“People hope that some of the changes that were promised in the campaign will take place early, which added to the economic situation (…) generates an environment of tension,” says Patricia Muñoz, a political scientist at the Javeriana University.
On the international front, Petro will reactivate diplomatic and commercial relations with the dictator Nicolás Maduro in Venezuelabroken since 2019, and will seek support and headquarters to resume peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last recognized guerrilla in the country.
BACK DIALOGUES
Although the peace agreement with the FARCthe former far-left armed organization, reduced the violence, Colombia still has not managed to extinguish the last internal armed conflict on the continent.
Besides of THE Npowerful drug gangs like the Gulf Clanwho headed the capo ‘Othniel‘, extradited this year to USAimpose their law in various areas of the country.
The dissidences that were marginalized from the peace pact also challenge the State thanks to the resources of illegal mining and mainly drug trafficking.
Petro also receives a country with the world’s largest production of cocaine, in view of which it has proposed rethinking the failed policy of drug prohibition in conjunction with USAthe main consumer of the derivative of the coca leaf.
Along with the invitation to dialogue with the ELN, Petro will propose to the armed groups to submit in exchange for criminal benefits, while reforming or dissolving the riot police force implicated in human rights violations during the repression of the massive protests of recent years.
Also “we are going to see a slow change in the military forces, (…) but I think we can rule out some kind of public unrest, insurrection, sit-down strike or drop in operational activity,” says the Cerac analyst.
(With information from AFP)
KEEP READING: