Colombia's first-ever leftist president sworn in
Ex-guerrilla and former mayor Gustavo Petro will be sworn in Sunday as Colombia's first-ever leftist president, with plans for profound reforms in a country beset by economic inequality and drug violence.
The former senator, 62, takes over from the deeply unpopular Ivan Duque for a four-year term during which he will enjoy support from a left-leaning majority in Congress.
Petro's hard-fought victory in June elections brought Colombia, long ruled by a conservative elite, into an expanding left-wing fold in Latin America that could be consolidated in October with a likely victory for Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil.
At a ceremony in Bogota on the eve of his inauguration, Petro said his government would aim to "bring to Colombia what it has not had for centuries, which is tranquillity and peace."
"Here begins a government that will fight for environmental justice," he added.
On the campaign trail, Petro had promised to raise taxes on the rich, invest in health care and education, and reform the police after a brutal crackdown on anti-inequality protests last year that was internationally condemned.
He has vowed to suspend oil exploration, to promote clean energy and to reactivate diplomatic and commercial relations with the government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, suspended since 2019.
