The White House announced on Friday that US President Joe Biden and his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, will meet next Thursday, April 20, at the White House. This is the first bilateral meeting between the two leaders.
Karina Jean-Pierre, White House spokesperson, reported that at the meeting both leaders will discuss “how the US and Colombia can continue to deepen our strong bilateral relationship by advancing in areas of mutual national interest such as economic cooperation and security.” Other topics on the agenda will be climate change, drug trafficking, the migration challenge, and human and labor rights in the region.
The meeting occurs at a time when the immigration issue and the fight against drug trafficking are positioned as two of the broadest crises in the Western Hemisphere.
Earlier this week, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, traveled to panama to reaffirm with Panamanian and Colombian officials, an agreement with which they seek to address the irregular flow of people through the Darién jungle. In the campaign announced Tuesdaythe three countries pledged to increase the arrests and prosecutions of smugglers in the jungle.
At the end of March, the Colombian Foreign Minister, Álvaro Leyva, traveled to washington to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who highlighted Colombia’s role in responding to the Venezuelan migration crisis. The country has granted temporary protected status to more than five million Venezuelans, allowing them to work, study and access public health services.
Petro, for his part, has been critical of the policy against drug trafficking that successive US administrations have implemented, calling it “a failure” and warning that new alternatives must be “proposed other than having a million more Latinos killed.” ”.
In interview with the voice of america In February, the director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, Rahul Gupta, responded to Petro’s accusations by assuring that the US recognizes that “not all policies have proven to be successful,” however, he stressed that resolving the traffic depends on a joint effort.
Another of the relevant issues between the two countries is the international conference between the Venezuelan opposition and the government of Nicolás Maduro that was confirmed on thursday by the Colombian Foreign Minister during a speech before the National Security Council of the United Nations (UN). Leyva assured that representatives of the United States, whose government had shown interest in the conference, will participate in the dialogues.
Petro’s visit to the US capital takes place as part of his official trip, which will also have stops in New York and California. Petro will arrive in the country on Sunday, April 16, and on Monday he will participate in the opening of the Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN headquarters.
The Colombian president will travel to California on Tuesday to give a conference on the environment and social justice at Stanford University. In Washington, Petro will also attend a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) scheduled for Wednesday.
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