Biden to host Colombian President Petro on April 20 -White House
2023.04.14 18:13
© Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden exits Marine One as he returns from Camp David at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., U.S. April 9, 2023. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will host a bilateral meeting with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Friday.
“I am grateful to President Biden for his invitation,” Petro said on Twitter. “It is a key moment to strengthen the relationship and mutual cooperation between both countries, not just in the fight against drug trafficking but in the protection of the Amazon (NASDAQ:), on climate change and on rural development.”
The meeting will take place in Washington on April 20.
Petro has promised to end Colombia’s six-decade conflict, which has killed at least 450,000 people, through peace deals or surrender agreements with leftist rebels, crime groups founded by former right-wing paramilitaries and gangs.
Petro, who took office last year, has derided the U.S.-led war on drugs as a failure and called for a new international approach.
Colombia’s attorney general, who is critical of Petro’s policies, has said the country risks losing U.S. support because of rising coca output and a the bill to allow criminal gangs to surrender in exchange for lesser sentences.
Colombia’s potential cocaine output rose 14% to 1,400 metric tons in 2021 and the area sown with coca shot up 43% to 204,000 hectares (500,000 acres), the UN said in an annual report last year.
