What implications does Gustavo Petro’s victory have in Latin America?

Sunday June 19 Gustavo Petro was elected as the president-elect of Colombia, a historical fact to be the first left-wing president of the country. Given this, there is much expectation about what the government of the leader of the Historical Pact will be like.

One of the big questions has to do with the relations that Colombia will establish with Latin America from next August 7, when Gustavo Petro takes office. For this, Giovanna de Michele, internationalist and political analystwent through the microphones of La W to talk about the implications of this victory.

“Colombia represents the jewel in the crown for the Latin American lefthaving come to power by means of votes reflects a great success of Colombian politics, the same one that groups on the left have been fighting by means of arms”, he pointed out.

Adding that, “this completely changes the political structure of Latin America (…) Colombia is a strategic ally of NATO and represents a great challenge for the entire region. It will be necessary to see if the internal politics is compatible with the purposes of the Latin American left”.

Regarding the relations that Colombia will have with Venezuela with this victory, the Venezuelan political analyst specified that “this could promote a new stage in the bilateral relationship, with great challenges for Gustavo Petro, who will have to find a balance between maintaining the Colombian GDP and opening the border as he offered”.

In addition, he indicated that the relationship between Petro and Maduro will be “very close”.

On the other hand, Giovanna de Michele referred to the possibility that Colombia assumes a situation similar to the one faced by Venezuela. She there she pointed out that Colombian institutions are going to constitute the counterweight that the executive power needs.

“I trust in the institutional strength of Colombia, what I don’t know is to what extent Petro is going to handle the issue of the economy, that generates many doubts because it is totally contradictory,” Michele stressed.

To conclude, the political analyst mentioned that currently, “the presence of the left is much stronger than it was in the 2000s.”

Listen to the full interview below:

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