The election of Gustavo Petro, a senator and former guerrilla, as president of Colombia is the most stunning example yet of how the pandemic has transformed the politics of Latin America.
with The Washington Post earlier this year that he envisions a progressive alliance with Chile and Brazil. If Lula wins and Petro succeeds, this coalition could be a powerful force in the hemisphere — and could leave the United States on the sidelines.
In a sign of how widely accepted that view has become in the region, both Petro and his rival in the final round of the Colombian election, construction magnate Rodolfo Hernández, supported normalizing relations with Venezuela, a country long invoked by the right as a cautionary tale about the dangers of left-wing governance.In his acceptance speech, Petro said his foreign policy would put Colombia at the forefront of the global fight against climate change.
Petro argues that counternarcotics policies over the past several decades have been a failure and that aerial eradication of coca has done nothing to reduce the flow of cocaine to the United States. He has vowed to focus instead on crop substitution. He has also suggested changing the extradition treaty and foreign trade agreement between the two countries.
Like many populist presidents before him, Petro’s greatest challenge will be following through on his promises to the poor — especially with a divided legislature. Nearly half of Colombians are experiencing some type of poverty and struggle to find enough to eat.
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