The spiritual possession carried out by the indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant communities to the incoming government left an invitation of Gustavo Petro to those groups.
“We need more social organization in Colombia. President of the Republic calls them to organize themselves (…) Power is not only what is locked up in the office of the president. The power is here”, Petro affirmed in the speech of the symbolic investiture.
The elected president attended a inauguration prepared by the social organization in which the people gave him a political and spiritual mandate for the new government that begins on August 7.
During the ceremony, indigenous doctors prayed traditional songs, while the president stood on several circles drawn on the floor with flowers and dry leaves.
Gustavo Petro told the communities that popular organizations must increase and spoke to them about inaugurating “a government with social movements and not over them”.
Before the hundreds of members of the towns who moved from the regions to Bogotá just for the investiture, the Executive promised them again that the flags of his administration will be the peace, environmental and social justice.
The communities gave him a document with a popular mandate that he promised to keep in his office during the four years of the administration. In those pages they collected the claims that they made to the presidents of yesteryear for decades.
In that list of requests is to guarantee the rights of women and the LGTBI community, build plans for the territories in harmony with nature, materialize the transformation of environmental policies and replace illicit crops to break the chain of drug trafficking.
The communities ask Petro modify the extractivist model that prevails in the country’s economy, the dismantling of all free trade agreements and promoting national, economic and food sovereignty.
The requirements do not end there, since the peoples also see the need for the recognition of the peasantry, binding participation mechanisms for the communities so that governance rests with the people, defense of life, total peace with social justice, transformation of the military and the end of Esmad.
Petro spent a short time in the spiritual possession prepared by the social movementarguing that he had a busy schedule for this Saturday.
Although his arrival was scheduled for 9 in the morning, the president arrived at Parque Tercer Milenio in Bogotá at 12 noon.
This was the second symbolic investiture carried out by the incoming government team. The first took place this week in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, awaiting the command transmission that will take place this Sunday, August 7, when Iván Duque will hand over the House of Nariño.