Colombian President Gustavo Petro raises his hand in the air after his inauguration speech on Sunday. He is ready to change the country’s political course, he says. Photo: Fernando Vergara / AP / NTB
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Francia Márquez also made history when she was inaugurated on Sunday as Colombia’s first Afro-Colombian female vice president. Photo: Fernando Vergara / AP / NTB
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Bogota’s streets were full of people celebrating Colombia’s first president from the left, Gustavo Petro, on Sunday. Photo: Ariana Cubillos / AP / NTB
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The jubilation was great when a hundred thousand Colombians were present during the inauguration of Colombia’s new President Gustavo Petro and Vice President Francia Márquez on Sunday. Photo: Fernando Vergara / AP / NTB
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Vice President Francia Márquez both made history on Sunday. Photo: Fernando Vergara / AP / NTB
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A supporter of Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro holds up a sign with the message that the country’s new leadership must not let the voters down, in Bogota on Sunday. Photo: Fernando Vergara / AP / NTB
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Supporters of Colombia’s new leadership celebrate after the ceremony in Bogota where Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez were sworn in as president and vice president respectively. Photo: Ariana Cubillos / AP / NTB
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Gustavo Petro is sworn in as Colombia’s first president from the left. He promises radical reforms on climate, drugs and social policy.
– I swear to God and promise the people that I will enforce the constitution and Colombia’s laws faithfully, Petro said when he was sworn in in the country’s capital Bogota on Sunday.
The 62-year-old former senator, mayor and guerrilla takes over from the deeply unpopular Iván Duque. As president, Petro will benefit from the fact that there is a majority for the left in the National Assembly as well.
Petro’s victory in the June election brought Colombia into the fold of a new left in Latin America. It could be extended further in the autumn if Lula da Silva wins the election in Brazil as expected.
Present at the inauguration ceremony in Bogota were, among others, the left-wing presidents of Chile, Argentina and Honduras.
On Sunday, the new president said Colombia will have a second chance to deal with crime and poverty. Petro promises to pursue an economic policy that will benefit the most vulnerable, as well as put an end to inequalities in society.
Historic
More than 100,000 of Petro’s supporters gathered in Bogota’s main square on Sunday to watch the former Marxist rebel make history by being sworn in as Colombia’s first leftist leader.
His presidency will be historic in several ways. Francia Márquez becomes the country’s first Afro-Colombian female vice president.
The two face a major challenge in getting an economy that has been hit hard by the pandemic back on track. It is also expected that they will take action to overcome the rise in violent crime, as well as a deep-seated hatred of the political elites that culminated in the protests last year.
Almost 40 percent of Colombia’s 50 million inhabitants live in poverty, and unemployment stands at 11.7 percent. Inflation is over 10 per cent. Petro takes over a country where the debt and budget deficit are at a critically high level.
He plans to finance welfare spending with a tax reform that will increase taxes on the rich and remove tax breaks for companies. Petro’s plan is for the reform to give the state 10 billion dollars in extra income a year.
Think New
In the election campaign, Petro promised not only to raise taxes for the rich, but also to invest in health and education. He also announced reform of the police after a brutal offensive against popular protests last year that was condemned around the world.
In his inauguration speech, Petro said that the time has come for a new international convention that takes into account the failure of the war on drugs.
He called on the United States and other countries to change a drug policy that has emphasized the prohibition of drugs such as cocaine, and contributed to violent conflicts in Colombia and other Latin American countries.
– This policy has led to the death of millions of Latin Americans over 40 years, and that 70,000 North Americans die of overdoses every year, Petro said during the inauguration speech, according to BBC.
Petro will prioritize development programs over so-called coca eradication, a strategy promoted by the US government in the 1960s. It was also part of President Richard Nixon’s “War on Drugs.” The purpose was to eradicate the coca plant, which is used, among other things, to make cocaine.
Stop the oil
On Sunday, Petro also called for the creation of an international fund to put an end to the deforestation of the Colombian part of the Amazon.
He has promised to end oil exploration and encourage the use of more clean energy. This despite the fact that the oil industry accounts for around 50 per cent of the country’s legal exports.
– He has a very ambitious plan, but he has to make priorities, says analyst Yan Basset at Del Rosario University in Bogota.
– The danger Petro faces is investing in too many reforms, only to end up not getting anything done at all, he adds.
Petro will also reopen diplomatic ties and trade relations with the neighboring country and oil nation Venezuela.
– I extend my hand to the people of Colombia, to President Gustavo Petro, to rebuild the brotherhood between our countries with respect and love as a foundation, said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro after Petro was sworn in.
Complete the peace agreement
Petro, who in his youth was himself a member of the M-19 guerrillas, will also see to it that elements of the peace agreement from 2016 that have not yet been implemented, including an agricultural reform, are implemented. And he will start negotiations with the ELN guerrillas.
Although the Farc guerrillas transformed themselves into a political party in connection with the peace agreement, there has been a clear increase in violence recently.
Thousands of former Farc soldiers, ELN fighters, paramilitaries and drug gangs are in bitter conflict over control of coca cultivation, illegal gold mines and lucrative smuggling routes.
According to the peace research institute Indepaz, there are 90 armed groups with 10,000 members in Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine. Petro suggests letting them turn themselves in to the authorities in exchange for some form of amnesty.
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