World

Leftist Petro takes office in Colombia amid economic, social challenges

2022.08.07 10:18

2/2
Leftist Petro takes office in Colombia amid economic, social challenges
FILE PHOTO: Colombia’s President-elect Gustavo Petro addresses the audience at his alma mater Universidad Externado de Colombia, in Bogota, Colombia July 26, 2022. REUTERS/Vannessa Jimenez/File Photo

2/2

By Luis Jaime Acosta

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Gustavo Petro will on Sunday become Colombia’s first leftist president, elected by voters who hope he can carry out ambitious social and economic reforms meant to reduce violence and deep inequality in the polarized Andean country.

Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrillas, is set to be inaugurated in Bogota’s Bolivar Plaza on Sunday afternoon.

Senate president Roy Barreras will swear him in front of some 100,000 people, including Spanish King Felipe VI, at least nine Latin American presidents and regular Colombians invited by Petro.

New Vice President Francia Marquez, an environmental activist and former housekeeper, will be the first Afro-Colombian woman to hold her post.

Petro, a 62-year-old former senator, has said his first priority will be actions to fight hunger in the country of 50 million, where nearly half the population lives in some kind of poverty.

A $5.8 billion tax reform, which would raise duties on high earners to fund social programs, will be proposed to congress on Monday by the new Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo.

“I’m also nervous about becoming president,” Petro recently told students at his alma mater Externado University in Bogota, when asked about the challenges he faces.

Petro has pledged free public university education and healthcare changes and constructed a broad congressional coalition of leftist and centrist parties to pass his platform.

Promises of a pension reform and a halt to new oil development have caused investor jitters despite the appointment of Ocampo, a long-time official, as finance minister.

The new president, a former mayor of Bogota, has also promised to revive scuppered peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and apply a 2016 peace deal to ex-members of the FARC guerrillas who reject it.

His foreign minister has said the government will hold dialogue with gangs and potentially give members reduced sentences in exchange for information about drug trafficking.

The sword of Latin American liberation hero Simon Bolivar – stolen by Petro’s erstwhile M-19 comrades in 1974 – will be on display in the plaza.

“We all have to wish each other good luck,” Petro told the students.

Source

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 68,697.41 0.07%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,435.09 1.11%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 0.999713 0.14%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 558.22 0.18%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 161.54 0.87%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.08%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 0.511422 0.24%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.168413 8.12%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 2,434.79 1.09%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.161942 1.93%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.330673 0.36%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 4.58 5.15%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000018 3.93%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 2,882.88 0.90%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 68,687.40 0.15%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 23.20 1.28%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 2,436.10 1.10%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 338.79 0.75%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 10.55 0.48%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 6.07 0.26%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 0.994265 0.48%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 3.83 1.18%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 1.92 2.28%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 66.89 0.60%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 3.70 1.40%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 2,562.17 1.04%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 8.20 0.09%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 6.93 0.25%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000008 0.02%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 7.12 1.05%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.10%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 427.57 0.13%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.16 1.47%
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 159.34 0.08%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.04%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.09214 0.66%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 18.90 0.16%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 17.96 0.91%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.105259 2.40%
first-digital-usd
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.999055 0.08%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.29892 0.18%
blockstack
Stacks (STX) $ 1.50 2.58%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 37.42 0.53%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 2.05 0.56%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 3.32 1.47%
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 130.84 0.74%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.071985 0.18%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.479414 0.83%
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.557221 1.08%
immutable-x
Immutable (IMX) $ 1.07 0.52%