Gustavo Petro, a former rebel fighter, was sworn in on August 7, 2022, whose election as the first leftist president of Colombia marks a major political development in Latin America.
Hundreds of thousands of people, including official delegates from other countries, attended the swearing-in ceremony held in the capital Bogota.
Petro had campaigned on a platform of social equality, free education, health insurance and reducing the gap between the rich and the poor.
Analysts have called his election a shock for the world, as Colombia, unlike other Latin American states where leftists were in power for years, was the only country in the region that had remained loyal to the US and had not experienced a leftist governing system.
They believe that Colombia is now entering the Latin America’s growing leftist bloc with Petro’s victory in the presidential election, who had campaigned under the slogan of the leftist fight for justice.
Colombia has a central stance in US policy on Latin America.
On May 22, 2022, the office of US President Joe Biden, in a statement, officially announced Colombia as the main ally of Washington outside NATO.
Observers believe that although Petro, like Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font, will not get into direct conflict with the US due to historical reasons, a new Colombian government led by Petro will not pave the way for Washington’s presence in South America, and that is regarded as a progress.
Petro has promised to restore diplomatic and trade ties with the government of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro -- an outspoken critic of Washington’s policies --- after those relations were severed in 2019 over a political crisis in Venezuela.
Maduro congratulated Petro on Sunday when he took office as new Colombian president, expressing hope that brotherhood based on respect and love is established between the two countries.
Colombia in recent years has acted as the main ally of the US in its hybrid war against Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and any other country that tried to stand up against US interference in its internal affairs.
Some analysts believe that a leftist coming to power in Colombia will not be limited to Latin America and many countries in other parts of the world will be leaning towards non-liberal governments, particularly the leftist ones; an issue the analysts believe is creating fear in the countries which claim to be on top when it comes to liberalism.
Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, will hold a presidential election in October 2022. Luiz Lula da Silva, a leftist and former union leader who was president from 2003 to 2011, is leading in polls as he is determined to defeat incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, an open admirer of former America’s president Donald Trump and widely criticized for using tactics associated to fascism.
The Liberals’ attacks on Lula have made him radical in his views. He is expected to avoid compromise with Brazil’s oligarchs and act as an ally in supporting revolutionary processes in Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and leftist governments in other countries.
The recent victory of leftist Petro in Colombia has been a warning to the US, which spent billions of dollars in aid to previous governments in Colombia.
Now, things are expected to become worse for the US, as elections are nearing in Brazil where another leftist is set to come to power.
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