Ex-guerrilla fighter Gustavo Petro set to be sworn in as Colombia’s new president, promising to boost funding for nation’s deprived rural areas

• Sen. Gustavo Petro is a former member of Colombia’s M-19 guerrilla group
• He won the presidential election in June, beating out conservative opponents
• Petro promised to fight inequality and invest more funding in rural areas
• He also intends to try to negotiate with remaining rebel groups warring over mines and drug routes 

Colombia’s first leftist president will be sworn into office later today, heralding a turning point in the history of a country haunted by a long war between the government and guerrilla groups.

Sen. Gustavo Petro, himself a former member of Colombia’s M-19 guerrilla group, won the presidential election in June by beating conservative parties off the back of a campaign which promised to fight inequality.

Petro is part of a growing group of leftist politicians and political outsiders who have been winning elections in Latin America since the pandemic broke out and hurt incumbents who struggled with its economic aftershocks.

The ex-rebel’s victory was also exceptional for Colombia, where voters had been historically reluctant to back leftist politicians who were often accused of being soft on crime or allied with guerrillas.

A 2016 peace deal between Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia turned much of the focus of voters away from the violent conflicts playing out in rural areas and gave prominence to problems like poverty and corruption, fueling the popularity of leftist parties in national elections.

Petro, 62, has promised to tackle Colombia’s social and economic inequalities by boosting spending on anti-poverty programmes and increasing investment in rural areas. 

He has described U.S.-led anti-narcotics policies, such as the forced eradication of illegal coca crops, as a ‘big failure.’ 

But he has said he would like to work with Washington ‘as equals,’ building schemes to combat climate change or bring infrastructure to rural areas where many farmers say coca leaves are the only viable crop.

Sen. Gustavo Petro, himself a former member of Colombia’s M-19 guerrilla group, won the presidential election in June by beating conservative parties off the back of a campaign which promised to fight inequality 

Supporters of the Colombian President-elect Gustavo Petro celebrate before his inauguration ceremony at the Bolivar square in Bogota, on August 7, 2022

People gather for the swearing-in ceremony of Colombia’s President-elect Gustavo Petro at Plaza Bolivar, in Bogota, Colombia August 7, 2022

A handout photo made available by the Spanish Royal House shows Spanish King Felipe VI (R) greeting Ecuador’s president Guillermo Lasso (L) before their official meeting in Bogota, Colombia, 07 August 2022. King Felipe VI is in Colombia to attend to swear of Gustavo Petro as new Colombian president 

Police officers search people in the area near the square where Colombia’s President-elect Gustavo Petro will be sworn-in, in Bogota, Colombia August 7, 2022

Petro also formed alliances with environmentalists during his presidential campaign and has promised to turn Colombia into a ‘global powerhouse for life’ by slowing deforestation and taking steps to reduce the country´s reliance on fossil fuels.

The incoming president has said Colombia will stop granting new licences for oil exploration and will ban fracking projects, even though the oil industry makes up almost 50 per cent of the nation’s legal exports. 

He plans to finance social spending with a $10 billion a year tax reform that would boost taxes on the rich and do away with corporate tax breaks.

Petro has also said he wants to start peace talks with remaining rebel groups that are currently fighting over drug routes, gold mines and other resources abandoned by the FARC after their peace deal with the government.

He will hope his status as a former member of the M-19 guerrilla group will serve him well in negotiations from the other side of the table.

‘He’s got a very ambitious agenda,’ said Yan Basset, a political scientist at Bogota’s Rosario University. 

‘But he will have to prioritise. The risk Petro faces is that he goes after too many reforms at once and gets nothing’ through Colombia’s congress.

People react as they wait for the swearing-in ceremony of Colombia’s President-elect Gustavo Petro, at Plaza de Bolivar, in Bogota, Colombia August 7, 2022

People wait for the swearing-in ceremony of Colombia’s President-elect Gustavo Petro, in Bogota, Colombia August 7, 2022

A stage is set up for the upcoming presidential inauguration ceremony in Bogota, Colombia

A worker cleans the sidewalk outside the Cathedral ahead of the presidential inauguration ceremony in Bogota, Colombia

At least 10 heads of state are expected to attend Petro’s inauguration, which will take place at a large colonial-era square in front of Colombia’s Congress. 

Stages with live music and big screens will also be placed in parks across Bogota’s city centre so that tens of thousands of citizens without invitations to the main event can also join in the festivities. 

The move represents a big change for Colombia where previous presidential inaugurations were more sombre events limited to a few hundred VIP guests.

‘We want the Colombian people to be the protagonists,’ Petro’s press chief, Marisol Rojas, said in a statement. 

‘This inauguration will be the first taste of a new form of governing, where all forms of life are respected, and where everyone fits in.’

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