Gustavo Petro, a former member of Colombia’s M-19 guerrilla group, won the presidential election in June by defeating conservative parties that offered modest changes to the market-friendly economy but failed to connect with voters frustrated by growing poverty and violence against human rights leaders and environmental groups in rural areas. On Sunday, he said Colombia had a “second chance” to tackle violence and poverty and promised his government would implement economic policies that seek to end long-standing inequalities and ensure “solidarity” with the country’s most vulnerable. The new president has said he is willing to start peace talks with armed groups across the country and has also called on the United States and other developed nations to change drug policies that have focused on banning substances like cocaine and fueled violent conflict across Colombia. and other Latin American nations. “The time has come for a new international convention that accepts that the war on drugs has failed,” he said. “Of course peace is possible. But it depends on replacing existing drug policies with strong measures that prevent consumption in developed societies.” Petro is part of a growing group of left-wing politicians and political outsiders who have been winning elections in Latin America since the pandemic broke out and hurt incumbents struggling with its economic aftershocks. The former rebel’s victory was also extraordinary for Colombia, where voters have historically been reluctant to support left-wing politicians often accused of being soft on crime or allied with rebels. Hundreds gathered in the country’s capital to celebrate the inauguration of Colombia’s new president Gustavo Petro and vice president Francia Marquez in Bogota. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images A 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia shifted the focus of voters away from violent conflicts in rural areas and focused on problems such as poverty and corruption, fueling the popularity of leftist parties in national elections. However, smaller rebel groups such as the National Liberation Army and the Gulf Faction continue to fight over drug-trafficking routes, illegal gold mines and other resources the FARC has abandoned. Petro, 62, has described US anti-drug policies as a failure, but also said he would like to work with Washington “as equals”, creating programs to fight climate change or to provide infrastructure in rural areas where many farmers say coca is the only viable crop. Petro also formed alliances with environmentalists during his presidential campaign and promised to turn Colombia into a “global force for life” by slowing deforestation and reducing the country’s dependence on fossil fuels. He said Colombia would stop granting new oil exploration licenses and ban fracking projects, even though the oil industry makes up nearly 50 percent of the country’s legal exports. He plans to fund social spending with a $10 billion-a-year tax overhaul that would boost taxes on the wealthy and eliminate business tax breaks. “He has a very ambitious agenda,” said Jan Basset, a political scientist at Bogotá’s Rosario University. “But he will have to prioritize. The danger Petro faces is that it does too many reforms at once and gets nothing” through the Colombia conference. Analysts expect Petro’s foreign policy to be markedly different from that of his predecessor, Iván Duque, a conservative who supported Washington’s anti-drug policies and worked with the US government to isolate the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an attempt to force the authoritarian leader to release himself. elections. Petro said instead that he would recognize Maduro’s government and try to work with the Venezuelan president on several issues, including fighting rebel groups along the porous border between the countries. Some border residents hope improved relations will create more opportunities for trade and jobs. In Cúcuta, a city just a few miles from the Venezuelan border, business school student Daniela Cárdenas hopes Petro will enact an education reform that includes free tuition for students. “He has promised so many things,” Cardenas, 19, said after traveling 90 minutes from her rural community to the city. “We have to work to be able to pay our students’ fees, which are quite expensive and, well, that makes a lot of things difficult for us.” Petro won the election by just 2 percentage points and remains a polarizing figure in Colombia, where many have been wary of former rebels entering politics.
