Petro asks the UN to end the “irrational war on drugs”

World leaders inaugurated the first day of speeches at the United Nations General Assembly at a particularly turbulent time on the international scene due to political and economic issues that affect a large majority of the nations of the planet.

The main issues to be discussed are the war in Ukraine, the inflationary crisis that affects a large majority of world economies and the great uncertainty generated by the growing problem of climate change. General problems to which more regional issues are added.

Here is a review of the most outstanding speeches on this September 20, 2022:

• Gustavo Petro: “The war on drugs became an excuse to destroy the jungle”

About two months after taking office as president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro made his debut on September 20 in a speech before the UN General Assembly, in which he attacked the current policies against drugs and the exploitation of hydrocarbons that in their opinion destroy the Amazon jungle, considered one of the main climatic pillars of the planet.

“The power relations are plagued by the addiction to money, to perpetuate oneself to oil, cocaine and the hardest drugs, to further anesthetize oneself. Nothing more hypocritical than the speech to save the jungle. The jungle burns while you make war and play with it, ”he assured during his intervention.

Petro called for a change in the approach to fighting drugs. He criticized that for years the policies of different governments in countries like Colombia, promoted by great powers like the United States, have focused on attacking coca leaf crops, causing serious environmental problems. A position that threatens the planet and human life, and leaves out measures that attack the failings in drug-consuming countries.

“For you, my country is of no interest to you except to throw poison into your jungles, take your men to jail and throw your women into exclusion,” said the president who has opposed the extinction of illicit crops with glyphosate.

The Colombian leader also referred to the environmental problems caused by the exploitation of resources such as coal and oil, motivated in his opinion by the “addiction to consumption, power and money” by the most powerful.

“What is more poisonous for the human being, cocaine, coal or oil? The opinion of the power has ordered that cocaine and that it must be prosecuted so that it causes minimal deaths by overdose and more by the mixtures that its clandestine causes , but instead coal and oil must be protected so that their use can extinguish all of humanity”, questioned the first leftist head of state in the history of Colombia.

In this sense, Petro insisted that the war on drugs and the fight against the climate crisis “have failed.”

In the face of a possible solution, Petro proposed greater environmental investment to counteract climate change and even the cancellation of debt in Latin American nations to invest those resources in the protection of the Amazon rainforest.

“If you do not have funds to revitalize the jungles and money is more important for weapons than for life, then reduce foreign debt so that with our budget save humanity and the planet (…) Change debt for life, change debt for nature ”, he raised.

• Erdogan highlights Turkey’s diplomatic role in Ukraine war

Turkey’s role as an international mediator. This is the line advocated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly. An understandable position, since Turkey’s presence in regional conflicts, either as part of them or as a mediator, is increasing.

During his speech, the Turkish president highlighted the need for the conflict in Ukraine to come to an end in a diplomatic way, since according to his criteria “there will never be a winner”.

The highest Turkish representative has highlighted how his country has tried to explore all the ways for meetings to take place between the two parties to put an end to a conflict that is affecting the whole world.

This issue has also served to criticize the lack of effectiveness that international organizations such as the United Nations Security Council have shown, to which he has asked for changes and “more involvement” after experiencing this turning point that the Russian-Russian conflict has brought about. ukrainian

In addition to his role in this war, Erdogan has had space to talk about the Syrian conflict, a civil armed confrontation that has been taking place since 2011 and in which Turkey is on the side of the rebels and has a presence in the north of the Syrian nation. . The president has called for an end to this prolonged conflict and launched harsh criticism of the management of the refugees produced by it.

Turkey currently has more than 4 million Syrian refugees within its borders, in what is the largest migration crisis on the planet. An issue that has served Erdogan to criticize the role of the international community and, especially, of Europe on this issue, by ensuring that “the refugee crisis cannot be resolved by abandoning them, building walls or leaving them in concentration camps”.

In other aspects, Erdogan defended his positions in other conflicts, such as his support for peace and the defense of Azerbaijan’s interests in the South Caucasus, his defense of the creation of a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem that would paralyze the “invasions ” of Israel, the recognition of the Uyghur people in China without the need to affect the sovereignty of Beijing or the end of the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh.

• Boric promises to find “the correct formula” to create a new Constitution in Chile

The Chilean president faced his first appearance before the UN General Assembly by reviewing in depth the political situation that his country has been going through for years. Boric acknowledged defeat in the constitutional plebiscite on September 4 and assured that, although he supported that proposal, Chile must find a formula that agrees with a large majority of Chileans.

The president of this South American country assured that this rejection “is not a defeat” for his government, but he affirmed that he had his eyes wide open before the message sent by the Chilean people. A town “that wants changes, but that does not want to lose what it has already won”.

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In this sense, Boric made an exercise of self-criticism by assuring that “collecting frustrations and discomfort is easier than creating solutions”. The Chilean president recalled the reasons why his country has come to this constituent process in which it is trying to bring about change due to the deep inequalities that exist in his nation due to the “unequal” policies of wealth distribution that have been implemented. given in recent decades.

In other aspects, the Chilean leader has made reference to the risk that his country suffers from climate change and the challenges that the world and democracies face in the face of this great global problem. A problem for which he blamed the large industrialized countries.

• Bolsonaro criticizes the Brazilian left less than two weeks before the elections

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was in charge of opening the speeches of global leaders before the United Nations General Assembly. And he did it with a politicized speech at the gates of the presidential elections that will be held in this South American nation on October 2.

The president launched several criticisms against the management carried out by the left during the period in which he was in power in Brazil, assuring that his government has been in charge during these four years of fighting against “systematic corruption.” An indirect attack against his closest rival, the candidate and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is first in all the polls and threatens to prevent Bolsonaro’s re-election.

Without mentioning the leftist leader directly, he asserted that the person “responsible” for the country’s corruption “was convicted of it.” And he affirmed that the current Brazil is very different from the one they left.

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His speech has focused on defending the “traditional values” of the family, the rejection of feminism or abortion and the defense of religion. Aspects that are a clear call to his potential electorate in the face of the elections.

A speech where the national context has prevailed over the international, since it has only made reference to the war situation that Ukraine is experiencing, asking for an immediate “ceasefire” from both parties.

However, the Brazilian president showed a different position from the one defended during these months by Western nations when criticizing the sanctions against Russia. According to Bolsonaro, this method only worsens the global crisis and makes it easier for some countries to seek ways to obtain energy sources in a “dirty” way. For the far-right leader, dialogue in this conflict is the only solution.

With EFE, Reuters and local media