Colombia's new president, Gustavo Petro, called in his inauguration speech on Sunday, August 7, for an end to the failed "war on drugs" and a move to a "strong drug prevention policy" in developped countries.
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| Gustavo Petro, the first left-wing president in Colombia's history, was sworn in on Sunday in front of hundreds of thousands of people in Bogota. [AFP] |
Gustavo Petro, the first left-wing president in Colombia's history, was sworn in on Sunday in front of hundreds of thousands of people in Bogota. During his investiture speech, the Head of State appealed to armed groups to sign peace but also to put an end to the “anti-drug war” held in check.
This 62-year-old ex-guerrilla succeeds the very unpopular Ivan Duque (2018-2022) for a four-year term which he begins with the support of a left-wing majority in Congress. Colombia , long ruled by a conservative elite, thus places itself on a trajectory common to other Latin American countries which are experiencing a shift to the left.
LEGAL BENEFITS IN EXCHANGE FOR PEACE
In particular, he offered armed groups operating in Colombia “legal advantages” if they signed peace: “We call on (…) all armed groups to relegate arms to the nebulae of the past. To accept legal benefits in exchange for peace and in exchange for a definitive end to the violence,” he said.
Although the peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, Marxists) in 2016 has reduced violence, Colombia has not yet extinguished the continent's last internal armed conflict. In addition to the ELN, powerful gangs of drug traffickers such as the Clan del Golfo, led by Baron “Otoniel” extradited this year to the United States , impose their law in several regions of the country.
And FARC dissidents are also challenging the state with resources from illegal mining and, above all, drug trafficking. On this point, Gustavo Petro proposes to rethink the failure of the crop eradication policy, in collaboration with the United States, the main consumer of this coca leaf derivative.
CONSUMPTION PREVENTION
He also felt that it was “time to have a new international convention which accepts that the war on drugs has failed”, to prefer a “strong policy of prevention of consumption” in developed countries.
According to him, in forty years of the fight against drugs, "a million Latin Americans" have been murdered and 70,000 North Americans succumb "every year to overdoses".