This was Petro’s first speech as president of Colombia: unity, peace and environment

( Spanish) — Gustavo Petro assumed this Sunday as president of Colombiaafter winning the second round elections held on June 19, and offered his first speech as president.

Petro was sworn in with his vice president, Francia Márquez, at the Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá, the country’s capital. These are some of her most important excerpts from her first official speech to Colombians.

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“Colombians and Colombian women have been many times in our history sent to the condemnation of the impossible, to the lack of opportunities, to the resounding no.”

“I want to tell all Colombian men and women who are listening to me in this Plaza Bolívar, in the surroundings, throughout Colombia and abroad, that our second chance begins today.

“Today begins the Colombia of the possible, today begins our second chance.”

“We will unite, among all of us, our beloved Colombia. We have to say enough to the division that confronts us as a people. I do not want two countries, just as I do not want two societies. I want a strong, fair and united Colombia.”

The “potential country of life” and the call for illegal groups to lay down their arms Achieving total peace: Petro’s message in his inaugural speech 3:04

“May peace be possible. We have to end once and for all with six decades of violence and armed conflict. I would say with two centuries of permanent war. The eternal war. The perpetual war of Colombia and Colombia. It can be done. We will comply the peace agreement and we will strictly follow the recommendations of the report of the Truth Commission”.

“It is more democracy, more participation that I propose to end the violence. But we also call on all the armed to lay down their weapons in the nebulae of the past, to accept legal benefits in exchange for peace, in exchange for the definitive non-repetition of violence, to work as owners of a prosperous but legal economy, which ends the backwardness of the regions”.

“This is the government of life and peace, and so it will be remembered”

Efforts to save the Amazon forest

“The Amazon forest. One of the pillars of the climatic balance and of life on the planet is the Amazon forest. We are going to let it be destroyed exacerbates to reach the point of no return in the extinction of humanity or. We are going to save it with humanity itself that wants to continue living on this land. The Earth? Where is the Global Fund to save the Amazon rainforest? Speeches will not save it. We can convert the entire population that today inhabits the Colombian Amazon into a population that cares for the jungle But we need the world’s funds to do it.”

“If it is so difficult to get that money. That the carbon taxes, that the green bonds, that the agreed climate funds should take place to save something so essential. Then I propose to humanity to exchange external debt for internal expenses to save and recover our jungles, forests and wetlands. Reduce foreign debt and we will spend the surplus on saving human life”.

“If the IMF helps to exchange debt for concrete action against the climate crisis, we will have a prosperous new economy and a new life for humanity.”

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