Miguel Uribe Londoño has officially launched his second campaign for the presidency of Colombia ahead of the 2026 elections. For this cycle, the 73-year-old former senator will represent the Partido Demócrata Colombiano, a political organization focused on afrocolombian rights and representation, and that secured its legal standing following the 2022 election of Representative Ana Rogelia Monsalve to the seat reserved for Afro-descendant communities. This marks a significant shift for Uribe Londoño, who had been running under Alvaro Uribe’s (no relation) Centro Democrático party, just has his son, the slain presidential candidate Miguel Uribe had been doing.

Miguel Uribe Londoño took up the presidential campaign left whin his son, Miguel Uribe Turbay, was assassinated last year while campaigning in Bogotá.

The move follows a public fracture between Uribe Londoño and the leadership of the Centro Democrático, headed by former President Alvaro Uribe. Uribe Londoño resigned his membership after alleging that the party leadership marginalized his candidacy to favor other internal aspirants, including Senator and actual party nominee Paloma Valencia. He claimed his internal polling numbers were higher than those of the candidates eventually endorsed by the party. The Partido Demócrata Colombiano, while sharing a similar name, is a distinct entity from the Centro Democrático.

The candidate’s 2026 platform, that would be viewed as center-right by most impartial observers, is structured around the principles of protection, order, and justice. Uribe Londoño has proposed an economic model focused on wealth creation, stating that the generation of capital must precede distribution to avoid the socialization of poverty. His security strategy advocates a justice system capable of delivering prompt sanctions against criminal activity and a protection model that applies to both urban and rural sectors. He asserted that current presidential contenders are offering inadequate solutions to the various crises facing the nation.

During the announcement, Uribe Londoño framed his candidacy as a tribute to the legacy of his son, Miguel Uribe Turbay. He stated that his participation in the race is intended to ensure that his son’s political proposals are not silenced following his death. While Uribe Londoño has not historically been linked to Afro-Colombian social movements, Pedro Adán Torres, president of the Partido Demócrata Colombiano, expressed support for the bid, citing a shared commitment to achieving tangible justice for ethnic communities in Colombia.

The Partido Demócrata Colombiano currently holds one seat in the Colombian Congress. By providing a platform for Uribe Londoño, the party seeks to elevate its influence in a political landscape often dominated by larger traditional movements. The campaign will likely test the viability of smaller party platforms and the influence of independent conservative voices outside the traditional Centro Democrático structure as the 2026 election cycle approaches in Colombia.

Above photo: Twitter/X account of Miguel Uribe Londoño

Though Petro has cycled through ministers, Francia Marquez was popularly elected and cannot be removed from office by the President, though he can, and has removed her responsibilities, such as her appointment to the newly created “Ministry of Equality.”

“We are wanted in the photo but not in decision making. We are wanted as a symbol, but not as a people with a voice.”

In an emotional speech on July 25^th, Marquez “canto la tabla” as is said in Spanish, in other words, give someone a “severe talking to” as she denounced what she says is the mendacity, hypocrisy, and bigotry of Petro and his administration.

“We are wanted in the photo but not in decision making. We are wanted as a symbol, but not as a people with a voice. We are wanted to be obedient and if we do not obey, then comes punishment, political violence, cancellation and public dehumanization,” said Marquez, in Spanish, giving a speech in Cali, near her home turf of the Colombian Cauca department.

The vice president spoke at an international women’s event called “Juntas por la Restauración de Nuestra Dignidad” (Together for the Restoration of Our Dignity) held at the Universidad Libre, or Free University of Cali. Marquez stated that she has held her tongue for a long time, but she had to speak in her defense after political rivals close to Petro have called her arrogant and a traitor.

“…But I soon went from being the political phenomenon, the heroine, to being the traitor. Because in this country, when a woman rises, suspicion follows her. The system does not ask about her abilities, but rather whether she is in the place she deserves. If she steps outside the assigned margin, then she is arrogant, disloyal, clumsy, incapable and dangerous.”

Marques also referred to the controversy surrounding her time leading the Ministry of Equality, where she has been denounced for a perceived lack of execution in setting up the new ministry or executing against its mandate.

“From the campaign until today, I have experienced many episodes of delegitimization, sabotage and exclusion. I will tell you just a few. I was given the mission of creating an institution with no structure, no resources, no support. They told me ‘do it yourself.’ And when I argued that three vice ministries were too many, they demanded [I appoint] five. And I did it despite the systematic blockade. They accuse me of not executing, when they never gave me the instrument to do so.” In this case, Marquez is referring to the President’s inner circle wanting her to appoint vice ministers of their choice as sinecures, irrespective of need or capability.

Gustavo Petro, with the appointment of Francia Marquez as his running mate, tried to position himself as a racial progressive in Colombia, a country with a complex social fabric that struggles to overcome classism, regionalism, and political polarization, along with ethnicity. However, his treatment of Marquez along with many bigoted statements he has made during his term, arguably have exposed him as disingenuous at best, and one could make the case, racist.

“No one who is black can tell me!”

President Petro insisted upon the appointment of porn stars Alejandra Umaña (Amaranta Hank) and Juan Carlos Florián to political positions, which Marquez opposed on the grounds of their lack of qualification. Petro angrily responded in a televised ministerial meeting saying “No one who is black can tell me that a porn actor who created the sex workers’ union should be excluded,” not explaining why a black person would be excluded from having an opinion on the topic, as opposed to anyone else.

Then Foreign Minister Murillo (left) with Petro in better days between the two, earlier this year.

Petro’s former foreign minister says comments are “unacceptable”

The bigoted statement drew a rebuke from Petro’s former foreign minister, former ambassador to the US, and former governor of Chocó, Luís Gilberto Murillo, who said: “Do not say that ‘I don’t accept that a black tells me such and such a thing,’ because that racializes the discourse in Colombia, and even worse when it comes from the presidency of Colombia. It’s unacceptable, because we need to advance this inclusive nation.”

Petro, along with his penchant for calling people who disagree with him “neonazis,” has also made racist comments against people with a white phenotype such as US President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macrón. Facing Macrón in a conference earlier this month, Petro said “It’s easier to win votes with a lie and a fetish, saying that life will be better if we expel those who don’t have the same skin color, language, or religion…”to which Macrón shot back: “I never lecture someone from the South, and it’s a little strange to be lectured by someone from the South, just because they come from the South!”

French President Emmanuel Macrón Rebukes Petro in Spain

Petro seems to fancy himself an orator and leader of what some call the “Global South” but no one seems willing to follow him. In his own country, support hovers around 26-30% according to recent polls, and his frequent verbal gaffes are constant fodder for jokes and internet memes. Winning his election by a tight mandate against an ailing outsider candidate who died a few months later, Petro constantly refers to his “popular mandate” as if he has the support of the Colombian populace.

By appointing Francia Marquez, an Afrocolombian lawyer and community activist as his running mate, Petro, a leftist ex-guerilla, sought to define himself as progressive and inclusive. However, three years into his presidency, he and his political clique openly despise Marquez, excluding her from public events and important meetings. During the opening of this summer’s congressional session, she was excluded from the presidential entourage and had to make her own arrangements, as is her constitutional right, to attend the legislative session. Marquez is a nationally elected official, and as such, she does not owe fealty to the president and has the right to dissent. Still, Petro’s attitude towards her and others destroys whatever credibility he claims as a feminist and inclusive crusader for human rights.

Finance Colombia presents a short documentary by Loren Moss about San Basilio de Palenque, its people, its history in their own words, and how the town is doing today. Its inhabitants, the Palenqueros, also share advice for those who wish to visit.

Special thanks to:

• The people of San Basilio de Palenque, los Palenqueros
• El Maestro Rafael Cassiani (RIP) and his family
• The musical group Kombilesa Mi, especially Ali Mc PM & Afroneto
• HBCU Connect, LLC
• Chevron Petroleum
• The Talento Total Foundation

VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL https://youtu.be/LdDYDpm6m6k?si=-I7qQbGIfV_QgYsP

• Produced by Unido Digital Media, LLC https://unidodigital.media/
• Read more: Finance Colombia: https://www.financecolombia.com/
• Subscribe to Finance Colombia for free: https://www.fcsubscribe.com/
• The place for bilingual talent! https://empleobilingue.com/
• More about Loren Moss: https://lorenmoss.com/
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The session included representatives from various companies, such as Pavco, Ingredion, and Bancolombia, alongside ethnic leaders who highlighted the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in business.

Luis Sevillano, director of the Ethnic Board Program of USAID and ACDI/VOCA, emphasized the economic impact of exclusion. “Understanding the cost of exclusion helps us recognize the economic implications for both the business sector and the country. This prompts a reflection: Isn’t it good business to capitalize on diversity and the opportunities that inclusion offers? Failing to do so could mean missing out on competitiveness,” said Sevillano.

Catalina Martínez, director of the ANDI Foundation, underscored the significance of the Advisory Board in fostering concrete actions. “This space is crucial for private sector representatives, encouraging them to highlight the importance of ethnic inclusion in business competitiveness and to share effective practices, inspiring others to join this initiative,” Martínez stated.

The project, titled Fostering the Inclusion of Ethnic Groups in Business Value Chains, is a collaboration between USAID’s Ethnic Board Program, ACDI/VOCA, and the ANDI Foundation. It seeks to raise awareness among companies and promote actions to adapt inclusion processes in value chains. The initiative is supported by nine partner organizations, including the Black Communities Process (PCN), National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), and the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC).

The USAID and ACDI/VOCA Ethnic Board Program focuses on supporting the self-determined development of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities by strengthening institutional capacity and promoting ethnic organizations. It also aims to increase access to socio-economic opportunities and enhance respect for ethnic heritage and cultural diversity.

The ANDI Foundation, since 2014, has led the Inclusive Competitiveness Strategy, which positions the private sector as a key player in creating a business environment that is not only competitive but also equitable and inclusive. The strategy emphasizes the need to diversify suppliers, reflect societal diversity within corporate staff, and leverage various groups to distribute products effectively.

The project, titled Fostering the Inclusion of Ethnic Groups in Business Value Chains, is a collaboration between USAID’s Ethnic Board Program, ACDI/VOCA, and the ANDI Foundation.

While known as a leftist-socialist, Gustavo Petro seems to have gone out of his way to both calm fears in the international investment community and protect Colombia’s diplomatically strong relationship with the United States, its largest economic and political patron.

Secretary of State Blinken pledged US support for implementation of the ethnic chapter of the 2016 Peace Accords, and cited the $60 million USD aid package supporting political, social and economic inclusion in Colombia, along with $1 billion + USD in US economic support since 2016 for Peace Accord implementation.

Finance Colombia provides a transcript of the signing statements by Vice President Marquez and Secretary of State Blinken. The transcript (and above photo) is courtesy of the US State Department.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Buenas tardes.  Gracias.  Gracias a todos.  I looked for this because I was almost rendered entirely speechless, quite literally.

To all of you here, this is a special place, and even in the few minutes that I’ve been here, I can feel that.  It’s very, very powerful.

Vice President Marquez, thank you for your leadership and also for your partnership, and I’ll have more to say about that in a few minutes.

38 percent of Afro-Colombians, 27 percent of Indigenous people registered as victims of the conflict.  By 2017, nearly a million had been forcibly displaced.

Ambassador Murillo, so many others here from the Colombian Government, from multilateral organizations, from civil society, from other institutions working toward the full implementation of the Peace Accord – thank you, thank you for your commitment to this effort.

And I very much want to recognize the service of Mr. Wouriyu Valbuena and all of the Afro-Colombian, Indigenous, and other civil society leaders who are here today for their brave and sustained efforts on the part of their communities.

Let me also acknowledge María Belén Sáez for hosting us in this remarkable museum.  I’m grateful for that.

It’s quite simply moving – moving to be here and to bear witness to the harrowing consequences of more than 50 years of conflict that are depicted all around us.  From the paintings that reflect the agony of forced disappearances for victim’s families, to the floors beneath our feet, crafted from melted guns, hammered into tile with the participation of victims of sexual violence.

Every part of this space shows the cost of conflict.  Every part makes an urgent case for peace, for justice.  And every part also shows profoundly our common humanity, as translated through art, an ability to connect so powerfully one human being to another.

The United States has been proud to be a partner to Colombia and its people throughout the peace process.  Today, we’re taking another step in support of securing a lasting peace, by becoming the first international accompanier to the Ethnic Chapter of the Peace Accord.

The chapter recognizes that there can be no lasting peace without justice and equality for the Afro-Colombian and Indigenous people, who have been disproportionately harmed by this conflict.

Over five decades, 38 percent of Afro-Colombians, 27 percent of Indigenous people registered as victims of the conflict.  By 2017, nearly a million had been forcibly displaced.  Countless others suffered atrocities and human rights abuses – massacres, torture, disappearances, killings, sexual violence.  Too often, those crimes went unpunished.

These injustices were rooted in centuries of racism – a living legacy of slavery and colonization.

Many persist to this day.  According to the United Nations, of the more than 400 human rights defenders killed between 2016 and 2020, 16 percent were Indigenous, though Indigenous people make up less than 5 percent of the population.

And as so many of you in this audience know very, very well, Afro-Colombian and Indigenous people continue to experience systemic marginalization and inequality.  To give just a few examples, even when they have the same qualifications, Afro-Colombians tend to earn less than their peers.  And on average, Indigenous people receive two years less education than other Colombians.

The Ethnic Chapter sets out a vision for an inclusive peace that addresses this history of inequity and ensures the rights of Afro-Colombians and Indigenous people going forward.

It’s a vision that the United States shares and that we’ve long worked to try to help make a reality.

Since supporting the negotiation process, we’ve supported Colombia’s efforts to help protect vulnerable communities, dismantle criminal organizations, support investigations and prosecutions of perpetrators of violence and human rights abuses.  In all, we’ve contributed more than $1 billion to support Colombian-led efforts to implement the Peace Accord.

We’ve also worked to expand opportunities for marginalized communities.  The United States Congress – thanks in large part to the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Chairman Meeks in particular – has helped provide significant economic development aid for Afro-Colombian and Indigenous people for the last nine years.

And last year, the U.S. Agency for International Development launched a five-year, $60 million program to support economic, political, and social inclusion in Colombia – the largest program of its kind in the world.  We’re partnering with nine Afro-Colombian and Indigenous organizations to create and implement peacebuilding and sustainable development initiatives, with a special focus on empowering women, young people, LGBTQI+ people, people with disabilities, people who are affected by violence.

Working toward greater equality will not only strengthen the foundations of peace in Colombia, but also the country’s democracy.  Because when every community has equal access to opportunity, to justice, to development, and security, all of society benefits.

That’s true in Colombia.  It’s also true in the United States, with our own deep history of discrimination, which is still felt in our institutions, policies, and society.  That’s why President Biden has made the fight for equity and racial justice a priority for our administration, at home as well as around the world.

Now, you know better than anyone that this work can be challenging.  But our willingness to confront the painful parts of our history – as well as our present – and do it out in the open, that is one of democracy’s greatest strengths, and it’s one that the United States and Colombia share.

The work that we’re here to support – like the Ethnic Chapter itself – is only possible because of incredibly courageous Colombians who have risked everything in the fight for equal rights.

People like the vice president, who has spent her entire life defending Colombia’s underserved communities, their lands, their rights – “los nadies,” as she says.  As a teenager, when the vice president helped protect a river in her community from exploitation; later, when she helped lead a march of women for more than 300 miles to protest illegal mining; and throughout the peace process, when she made sure that the voices of Afro-Colombians and black women were heard.  Work she did despite harassment, despite death threats, work she continues to this day, not only as vice president but also as her government’s first minister of equality.

Her persistence, and that of so many indigenous and Afro-Colombian leaders like her – including some of you gathered here today – you’ve brought the nation to this moment, and you will continue to carry it forward.

As the vice president said, now is the time – now is the time – to work toward peace – “decisively, without fear, with love and with joy.”  I can think of no more powerful and no more fitting words for this moment.

And I can conclude simply by saying the United States is proud, proud to be your partner in this endeavor.  Thank you.  Gracias a todos.

MODERATOR:  (Via interpreter) Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.  Now it is my honor and pleasure to welcome the vice president of Colombia, Francia Marquez, for her remarks.  Madam Vice President.  (Applause.)

VICE PRESIDENT MARQUEZ:  (Via interpreter) Good afternoon, everyone.  Everyone who is here today in this space, I would like to extend my special greetings to Mr. Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States, and of course to your entire team of colleagues who are with you as a part of this special delegation.  I would also like to extend my greetings to the representatives of the United Nations for human rights, Juliette de Rivero.  Thank you for being here and for always being so willing to stand by our side and our arduous fight to protect life.

I would like to greet Luis Gilberto Murillo, our ambassador, who has been a part of this historic fight that we have waged as peoples.  I would like to extend my greetings to the director of the victims unit, Patricia Yagari, who is here with us.  I would like to greet the secretary of the high-level instance for ethnic peoples, Mr. Armando Valbuena.  My greetings to all leaders who are here as well, social organizations, members of the media, and my greetings to the community in general.

The first thing I have to say is that we are very pleased to receive this visit from the Secretary of State of the United States.  We receive you and are happy to do so as a government, as an administration, because accompanying the Ethnic Chapter for peace is to take on the commitment for total peace, complete peace.  These floors upon which we have walked are wrinkled; they are made of weapons, weapons that were used to murder and hurt millions of Colombians, but especially Colombians who were Indigenous and Afro descendants, raizales and palenqueros.  As the Colombian state recognized and as was recognized by the FARC at the time, there was a disproportionate effect on these people, and that continues to be so in the framework of the armed conflict.

I can’t be here as a black woman, as a victim, without reaffirming our commitment to peace to tell you, Mr. Secretary, that we have still not silenced every bullet.  There are many weapons here that we were able to place here, but there are still many weapons out there, out there murdering, taking life, denying possibilities, hopes and dreams for our people.  And I would like to especially talk about youth, about black and Indigenous youth, youth who today do not see any roads that are open to them, who see that the future is murky.  They don’t see that it’s possible for them to achieve their dreams.  Young people who on the Pacific coast of Colombia are committing suicide because they do not see a road ahead for themselves, young people, children, women who continue to be victims of forced displacement, who are expelled from their land, who are still undergoing a terrible humanitarian crisis.

And this armed conflict is not uncoupled from structural racism.  My presence today as vice president is just one step; it is not the end.  The end is to find dignity for our people, black people, raizal and palenquero people, our Indigenous peoples, for peasant workers, for women, for young people, and for all of Colombia.  That is why, as we discussed during our meeting with the president, it is necessary that we solve the drug problem, the drug trafficking problem, the problem of death economies, towards an economy that allows for peace for us all.  We must plant happiness, hope, and love on our land, because unfortunately and sadly, our land has been planted with pain, sadness, and blood.

With that hope, Gustavo – President Gustavo Petro came into office, as did I, in order to be a part of the state in order to change those realities.  We celebrate the fact, then, that the U.S. Government today is taking on being a partner in this exercise of ensuring rights for the victims of this country, and especially for victims, of ethnic peoples, in order to find a decent life for them and to make strides in seeking total peace.  I will repeat: this is a huge stride to the end.  This is a demonstration of the fact that we are on the right path, that hope continues to grow, so that we may overcome our fear – a fear that still takes hold of our people, that still takes hold of our leaders.

That is why, then, I would like to thank you on behalf of our national government, on behalf of my people, on behalf of our leaders, on behalf of those who are no longer here because they gave their lives for this moment so that we could reach this place.  But we would like to reaffirm our commitment to total peace, to justice, to social justice, to human dignity.  We would like to reaffirm our commitment to tackle, in a radical way, structural racism which has not allowed us to be as people and as communities.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for being here.  I would like to thank the media, and a message of hope, of happiness, of love, and of brotherhood is what I would like to extend to the Government of the United States.  Thank you very much.

MODERATOR:  (Via interpreter) Thank you, Madam Vice President of the Republic of Colombia, Francia Marquez.  And now we will move to this very important moment, a moment that Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants have waited for for so long and that we have worked on together with the United States Government.  We will move to the signing ceremony.

The two discussed various topics of binational interest, including antinarcotics policy, Venezuelan and Cuban relations, the Colombian Peace Process, immigration, and human rights.

Finance Colombia provides a transcript of their after-lunch statements and answers to the media. The transcript (and above photo) is courtesy of the US State Department.

MODERATOR:  (Via interpreter) Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the (inaudible) at the House of Nariño, where we will have a media statement by President of Colombia Gustavo Petro and Secretary of State Antony Blinken after their meeting that took place up until a few minutes ago.  To start, we will hear first from the president of the Republic of Colombia, Mr. Gustavo Petro.

PRESIDENT PETRO:  (Via interpreter) Thank you very much.  We had a working lunch today and we met with a large U.S. Government delegation headed by the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. Antony Blinken – and I think you will eventually be a U.S. president – and with a good number of ministers of Colombia.  The topics discussed today during a mutual exchange of ideas that we have been discussing prior to my inauguration as president of the republic in meetings held both in Bogotá as well as Washington, D.C., at the White House.

And today we had a working lunch that actually lasted a couple of hours, and we discussed topics such as narcotics trafficking, undoubtedly a subject of interest to both countries for several decades now and is a common topic on our binational agenda.  But we looked at it from a different perspective, a perspective that I would deem is more flexible, that has a more comprehensive view of drug consumption and production in our hemisphere.

And this was looked at from the perspective of an effort that has received the support of the U.S. Government during the Obama administration, and I am talking about the peace process and how Colombia’s peace as well as the Peace Accord that has already been signed include the first topic, which is an agrarian reform that involves some 3 million hectares of fertile land to be distributed among farmers and speaks of titling some 7 million additional hectares of land to the current land holders.  And if these lands were to be productively developed in the hands of the new landowners, this would be a barrier that would contain drug production in Colombia, because Colombia is drug trafficking because it does not produce.  Then how can we stop producing drugs?  Well, by focusing and investing in agriculture and farming.

And the fourth chapter in the Peace Accord is to stop viewing coca shrub producers and growers as criminals.  These are two aspects of the Peace Accord that have been discussed in the past with the U.S. Government and the Santos administration and that today we want to render truly effective.  Therefore peace today affects – in my opinion, it has a positive impact on – if we view the war on drug differently.

We also talked about migration.  We also discussed problems that have to do with the security agenda of the Americas, and that was, let’s say, the essence of our meeting.  And I’m sure that new, concrete topics will be discussed with the cooperation of the SAE and the Prosecutor General’s Office to determine the true inventory of assets under forfeiture that used to be drug assets and that have evaporated in Colombia’s recent history.

We also talked about the interdiction operational capabilities, particularly as regards the navy, because 90 percent of the drugs are shipped by sea.  We also discussed concrete aspects related with repressing and attacking in those places where the true capital of drug trafficking is produced, because narcotics trafficking can be divided into two in Colombia.

We have the proletariat of drug trafficking where people, low-income people in far-removed, excluded areas are forced to grow illegal crops and are put at the service of drug trafficking, and this is where we see the bulk of violence.  That is where we produce the highest number of victims of violence in Colombia and the forcefully displaced.  And the capitals, the monies of drug trafficking, the true owners of drug trafficking, whose role is to produce money, and they are not dressed in camouflage, the uniforms, nor do they carry a rifle, and it’s very likely that they have been in rooms such as this and have been part of the political power in Colombia and I would say that in – amongst political powers outside of Colombia.

So to persecute the true owners of narcotics trafficking implies having an intelligence apparatus that is capable of, and this is something we discussed as well, which is to strengthen Colombian intelligence in our war against drugs.  And with this, I think I have summarized the meeting, so, sir, I will now turn the microphone over to you, the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. Blinken.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Well, Mr. President, thank you very, very much.  Thank you for your hospitality.  Thank you for a very constructive discussion today.

For decades, the partnership between the United States and Colombia has benefited people in both our countries and people across the hemisphere.  Its strength has not wavered across administrations in both our countries.  In the U.S. Congress, cooperation with Colombia is a priority that enjoys sustained and bipartisan support.

That’s in no small part because the partnership between our nations is rooted in fundamentally shared values: in democracy, in respect for human rights, preserving our planet for future generations, and the belief that all – all of our people – should be able to reach their full potential.

In the opportunity I had to speak with President Petro on the phone on June 20th, through the many engagements across our government since then, we’ve made clear that the United States has a steadfast commitment to our partnership with Colombia.  And as I discussed with the president and the foreign minister and other members of the cabinet today, we are committed to advancing that partnership.

That includes the United States continuing support for the implementation of the 2016 Peace Accord, as we’ve done since the peace process began.  We commend President Petro’s commitment to its full implementation.

Later today, I will join Vice President Marquez at a ceremony where the United States will sign on as the first International Accompanier of the Ethnic Chapter of the Peace Accord.  The chapter recognizes the government’s unique responsibility to ensure the rights and equity of the country’s Afro-Colombian and Indigenous groups who suffered and continue to suffer disproportionate harm from the conflict.  This reflects our shared conviction that an enduring peace has to be an inclusive peace.

This is only the most recent step the United States is taking in partnership with Colombia’s government and with civil society to try to help improve the lives of people in underserved communities – from broadening access to health and education to increasing connectivity, whether by road or by broadband, or making it easier for families and communities to get land titles.

As President Petro and Vice President Marquez point out, the promise of equity is unfulfilled for too many Colombians, so the United States will continue to work with Colombia to realize this promise.  In December, USAID announced its largest-ever program to promote ethnic inclusion and equity here in Colombia.

Over five years, we will invest $60 million to help Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities tackle immediate problems like rising food and energy costs, which have been worsened alas by Russia’s brutal war of aggression on Ukraine, as well as build long-term resilience through innovation in fields like agriculture and renewable energy.

We also remain committed to working with Colombia to improve civilian security, particularly in rural areas.  We have understood for some time – in Colombia and beyond – that we cannot effectively combat violence by focusing only on strengthening law enforcement tools and security cooperation.

We also must address the root causes of insecurity: corruption, impunity, inequity.  And we’re doing that through efforts like bolstering the investigation and prosecutions of gender-based violence, human rights abuses, the killing of human rights defenders, journalists, environmental and social leaders.  And we’re investing in substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery for those struggling with addiction in our countries and beyond – both to reduce the ravages wrought by illicit drugs and to reduce the demand, particularly from the United States, that fuels so much criminal activity.

That’s the comprehensive approach that defines our partnership across every shared priority, including addressing the climate crisis – an area where the president has demonstrated global leadership.

We recognize that as the world’s the second-biggest current emitter after China and the biggest emitter historically, the United States has a special responsibility to step up, and that’s what we’re doing under President Biden’s leadership.  The United States Congress recently passed legislation making the biggest investment in our history to combat climate change: approximately $370 billion.

We’re also ramping up our work with Colombia and countries around the world to lead the clean energy transition, to help communities adapt to the effects of climate change and preserve our planet’s natural resources.  President Biden has pledged to work with our Congress to provide $11.4 billion in climate finance to developing countries every year, quadrupling previous levels of support.  And we’re pursuing these goals in a way that creates jobs for the communities that are hardest hit by climate change.

Consider just for a moment clean energy production.  Today, some 70 percent of Colombia’s renewable energy comes from hydropower.  But as climate change makes droughts more frequent and more severe, we’re helping Colombia diversify its supply.  In the Guajira region, which has some of the most powerful winds in the world, we’ve supported the Colombian Government’s efforts to work with the private sector and local Indigenous communities to harness those winds for power.  The projects that we helped finance, and continue to aid with technical expertise and training, will generate at least 2,000 megawatts of electricity.  That is enough to meet the needs of more than 5 million rural Colombians, while also creating good-paying jobs for people from the Wayuu community.

Colombia has also led globally by consistently defending the principles at the heart of the United Nations Charter and international law, affirming the right of all nations to have their sovereignty and territorial integrity respected, and condemning President Putin’s unjust war on Ukraine in the UN General Assembly as well as at the Organization for American States.

Migration is another area that we discussed and where Colombia is playing a leading role.  In our meeting, I thanked President Petro for Colombia’s remarkable generosity to more than 2.4 million Venezuelans displaced by their country’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The historic initiative that Colombia launched last year, which grants 10-year temporary protected status for Venezuelans in this country, has become a model for the region – indeed, a model for the world.

So is the efficiency with which it’s been implemented.  More than a million and a half Venezuelans have been approved for TPS.  Over 1.4 million Venezuelans have received TPS cards, allowing kids to go to school and people of all ages to access public health services, to work legally, to travel freely.  We’re proud to have worked with the Colombian Government, with the private sector, with NGOs to create programs that expand opportunities for displaced Venezuelans and their host communities.

This is just one area we’re working together on regional migration issues.  Last October we co-hosted a ministerial meeting here in Bogotá with countries from around the region.  That helped lay the foundation for the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration that we and 21 other countries adopted at the Summit of the Americas a couple of months ago.

That declaration recognizes a shared responsibility and interest in meeting this challenge – and doing it in a way that enhances stability, increases opportunities for safe and orderly migration, and holds accountable the criminals and human traffickers who prey on desperate people.

Later this week we’ll meet with the other signatories on the margins of the OAS to continue the work on turning the declaration’s commitments into reality.

And so, across the issues that matter most to our people, and that are fundamental to demonstrating that our democracies can deliver real results, Colombia and the United States have a deep history of working together.  We know that for all the progress that’s been made, our work is unfinished, and the challenges before us are real.  They’re significant.  But that is all the more reason that we’re committed to continuing to move forward as partners.  Thank you very much, and thank you, Mr. President.

MODERATOR:  (In Spanish.)

MR PRICE:  La primera pregunta viene de Tracy Wilkinson of the L.A. Times.

QUESTION:  Muy buenas.  Muchísimas gracias.  Mr. President, you and a few (inaudible) energy.  But none of that has happened yet.  And can that happen with a government, a president that you may not be able to agree with very much on?  Thank you.

PRESIDENT PETRO:  (Via interpreter in progress) (Inaudible) of fertile lands that today are unproductive, and to distribute them among farmers and particularly give those lands to Colombian women.  Colombia has 20 million hectares of fertile lands.  And today, this is inside the Colombian agricultural frontier, and it could be expanded by 20 million more hectares if we were to make significant investments in the lowlands and highlands.  And these are monies that we do not have today.

And in the 20 million hectares of fertile land, I would say that some 15 million hectares actually have the potential to produce food above all, but we only use 5 million hectares for that purpose.  So it’s a matter of expanding that frontier of food in Colombia by 3 million hectares more, and that entails that Colombia could be an exporter of food, and means that the price of food in Colombia would drop, and would also imply at least that between 2 to 3 million people would be benefitted from this in the rural world and could increase their finances and income.  And it would also imply discouraging the production of coca leaf in Colombia, and that is a concrete step because this entails money.

Then these would be public monies – I’ve said this publicly since yesterday – because we have had an internal discussion inside government and on the cost of buying 3 million hectares of fertile lands and hand those lands over to farmers in Colombia at a much lower price.  How much does that cost?  And the estimate in U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate – which is not highly beneficial to Colombia – is approximately between 7 and 14 billion U.S. dollars, which is much less than the cost of the plan whereby we have combated narcotics trafficking in Colombia and have done so unsuccessfully.  And with this, we could implement an agricultural reform and we could initiate a process of industrialization, and these are concrete steps.

If we look at point number four in the peace accord that has to do specifically with coca growers located in jungle lands today, in lands that are not fertile lands in general terms for food production, then we could try certain measures of bio-economics.  Actually, this morning we spoke about the agrarian and agricultural reform that has brought together many agricultural institutions and organizations in Colombia.  And here we are going to start because we have now funded, in part, the crop substitution program as designed by President Santos.  The thing is, we are going to add – and this is a topic of conversation with many governments, including the U.S. – that since these are located in jungle lands that we find in the jungle, one of the main factors to stop producing coca leaf, and that is to save the jungle as regards its role, its prioritary (ph) role, regarding the world’s climate stability.

If we manage to build – and this is a concrete proposal that we’ve presented a multilateral fund; we already have a – the beginning of this fund with Norway in an effort to rescue and revitalize the jungle in Colombia.  And this obviously would have to be expanded to Brazil, depending on the political results of the elections, to Peru, Venezuela, and other countries.  We would contribute not just to the conservation of one of the climate pillars that sustains life on planet Earth, but the second, to turn farmers, the entire peasantry, and even organizations that are violent organizations in the countryside, and this force, this coca proletariat that is at the service of drug trafficking, could be turned into a positive force for revitalizing the Amazon jungle.  And this is part of the social program that we believe is key if we want Colombia to come out of the narcotrafficking cycles in the Americas.

And the other topic is repression that we want to change significantly as well because to date and until not long ago, the repressive policy against drug trafficking was to use glyphosate to do air-spraying.  That has been banned by the constitutional court of Colombia; plus, it is useless and also criminalizes farmers, and the jails are full of farmers.  And the concrete change is that the repressive counternarcotics policy should not target farmers but, rather, the owners of drug trafficking, and for that we need two tools, two main tools, and I repeat this, and this is a topic of discussion with the U.S.: first, are to increase the interdiction capability, mainly maritime interdiction and also the air interdiction capability of the country, to stop the drugs before they are shipped out of the country; and second, to increase intelligence capabilities to capture the owners of narcotics trafficking that live in Bogotá, Medellin, Cali, Miami, and very possibly in New York and in Madrid as well and that are not located in the jungle nor do they live with farmers nor do they receive a drop of glyphosate in their head.  So those are concrete steps.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  (Inaudible) I would only add that we here today and throughout the many exchanges that we’ve already had with President Petro’s administration in recent months, in recent weeks, we’ve been listening to each other and we’ve been learning from one another.  And I think as a result of that, you can see that there’s extensive common ground on virtually all of the major issues that we have to tackle – both of our countries – in order to better the lives of our people and to do it in an inclusive way.

So just on counternarcotics, to take one example, we strongly support the holistic approach that President Petro’s administration is taking to counter narcotics through comprehensive rural security, justice, development, environmental protection, supply reduction, as well as demand reduction, including in the United States.  You just heard the president talk about a couple of concrete ideas on the enforcement side that he put on the table today – looking at doing more in terms of interdicting drugs that are moving on the seas by boat, as well as enhancing even more our intelligence sharing to go after those who are responsible for drug trafficking.

So on both the enforcement side but also on the comprehensive approach to the problem which is so necessary, I think that we’re largely in sync.  And I could go down the list of other issues that we discussed today where both of us, I think, are looking really at a comprehensive approach.  There’s not a one-size-fits-all for any of these issues.  And I think through the process of spending time together in recent weeks, we have been not only refining the approach that we’re taking but we’re finding very concrete ways to move that forward.  That’s going to continue in the weeks ahead.

QUESTION:  (Via interpreter in progress) by Cuba and Venezuela in the peace policy of Colombia, and I’m asking you because we wonder whether it is possible for the U.S. to remove Cuba and Venezuela from the list of countries promoting terrorism.

And President Petro, what is Colombia’s position regarding Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine?  Because Secretary Blinken said you mentioned this at the meeting and whether you spoke of a specific STP in the U.S. for migrants because you have recognized the Colombian system for refugees.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you.  (Inaudible) first emphasize again how remarkable it is the commitment that Colombia has made over several years now to welcome so many Venezuelans who have had to flee the humanitarian catastrophe that is Venezuela.  And I think as I said, that’s become a model not only for the region but for the world.

Our strong hope for Venezuela is that the Maduro regime and the Unitary Platform are able to pursue a dialogue that ultimately leads to the necessary conditions to have free and fair elections, to restore Venezuela’s democracy, to restore support from the international community, and to create a much better environment and – for all Venezuelans.  That is fundamentally what is necessary for Venezuelans to not feel the obligation to leave the country that is theirs, as well as for Venezuelans who have left to return.  And we discussed the ways together how we can best continue to advocate for democratic and a prosperous Venezuela as well as the same thing in our hemisphere more broadly, as well as to hold accountable governments that have discarded democratic norms, which unfortunately remains the case in Venezuela.  But our strong hope is that we will see a resumption of the dialogue, negotiations, and ultimately Venezuela returning to the path of democracy through free and fair elections.

When it comes to Cuba and when it comes to the state sponsor of terrorism designation, we have clear laws, clear criteria, clear requirements, and we will continue as necessary to revisit those to see if Cuba continues to merit that designation.

PRESIDENT PETRO: (Via interpreter in progress) add to the meeting we just had, said that what has happened with Cuba is an injustice because a Colombian Government – not our government, not this administration – has asked Cuba to be the seat for the negotiations with the ELN and FARC.  In the negotiation with FARC we had the participation of, let’s call it, an oversight by the U.S. Government, and this is the Obama administration.  The new – a Colombian Government has asked another U.S. Government, the Trump administration, that the fact that FARC and ELN were in Cuba – that Cuba be declared a country promoting terrorism, and that is called an injustice.  And therefore, in my opinion, it is not us who must correct it, but it does need to be corrected.  We have recovered the role of guarantor countries, the processes that will start shortly, and we’ve asked the Kingdom of Norway, Cuba, Venezuela, and that same status has been requested by Spain as well as other countries.  And when we decide venue, the place where the negotiations are to take place, then we will revisit this topic.

The Temporary Protection Status, which is a protection of migrants, is a democratic figure used by over a million people in Colombia.  It was also used in Venezuela back in the ‘70s when Colombian migrants went to live in Venezuela.  And to this we must add the effective assurance of rights.  The TPS allows migrants to not leave, but it does not necessarily mean that they can exercise their rights as human beings in Colombia.  And I think that we must look deeper into this topic.

The normalization of relations with Venezuela will at least allow us, at least with the opening up consular relations, that the education degrees be quickly homologated, and that would allow us to improve the status of Venezuelan migrants, particularly female Venezuelan migrants in Colombia.  If normalization of the relationship brings about a migration change, it has to be measured through our migration office, because the most recent data I have is that the direction is not from Venezuela but – to Colombia, but from Colombia to Venezuela.  And that is something that we have to look at in greater depth and with more time and to do an in-depth assessment.  If that is a result of the normalization of relations, then the free decision of the Venezuelan families in Colombia is what is to be respected.

Now, I do believe that a TPS for Colombians in the U.S. is also necessary.  And I am not saying this by way of negotiation, because we have granted TPS to Venezuelans in Colombia – then we should have a TPS for Colombians in the U.S.  But I say this because this is, let’s say, the human law.  In the conversation, we heard that a series of international events will take place, and the idea is to put order to the exodus that is produced by the climate crisis all over the world and is creating the creation of some very strange rights in the countries of the north.  And obviously, this is a topic that has to be discussed.  And we are a party to the International Conference on Migration to take place in Geneva, and I hope to attend that meeting.

And there’s no doubt that this is a topic that isn’t just Colombian or just Venezuelan.  This is a world topic, a global topic that is becoming increasingly acute because of the climate crisis.  And we’re talking about a human exodus, and Pope Francis has rightly said that exodus create new forms of slavery, and we are saying this – we are seeing this in the Venezuelan migration in Colombia, as well as the enslavement of children, the trafficking of women, the use of men who are being forced into drug trafficking and to include in violent armed armies.  These private armed – armies of migrants is very revealing of the reality of Pope Francis words because exodus brings new forms of slavery, and it is only through a global system that we can avoid, first, the new forms of slavery, and second, if we target the causes correctly, then the stability of people in their homelands, which is where a person would obviously prefer to live, in his or her homeland.

MODERATOR:  (Via interpreter) Next question, Jaime Moreno.

QUESTION:  (Via interpreter) Good afternoon.  President Petro, my question for you is the following.  You mentioned specific plans in your new strategy in the fight against drugs.  What about forced manual eradication while those programs are implemented, since those programs could take some time?  What will happen with this forced eradication in some areas?

PRESIDENT PETRO:  (Via interpreter) Forced eradication in the crops that we call industrial crops.  I mean, industrial crops are large expanses of land with coca shrub that do not belong to farmers, to small farmers.  And this is seen in areas such as Tumaco, in the area of Tibú, in northern Santander.  And why Tibú?  That’s a very good question.  Why has the bulk of cocaine production moved from Tumaco to Tibú, which is right near the Colombian-Venezuelan border?  However, those industrial crops must be eradicated forcefully.  There’s nothing to negotiate, the substitution of those crops – there’s no one to negotiate the substitution of those crops.

The thing is that they are not going to be air-sprayed, which renders the problem even more dangerous for the people who do this forced eradication.  And this is a cost that we will have to take on.  But first eradication will continue of all the industrial crops that do not belong to small farmers.  And it would be wonderful if there is a technological method that could allow for the regrowth of the jungle once this type of crops are eradicated, and that is my answer.

And let me tell you that in those areas, in those regions in general, we see violent forces.  These are armed forces with various degrees of militarization that have been divided here into gangs and the organized armed groups, the GAOs, the GAOs, but who have territorial control.  They have weapons and control the population.  These multi-crime bands and gangs that don’t engage just in narcotics trafficking and have international and multinational ties is a new actor and different from what we used to call classical paramilitarism, or the guerrilla.  And this is the result of complexity of – because narcotics trafficking mutates.  It has undergone a metamorphosis.  And all these organizations have sent letters to the government requesting the negotiation of their dismantling, and that would have to be done under a law of surrender that this government will submit to congress for its consideration, and that would lead to a negotiation with the judiciary and not with the government, and has to do with a reparative justice.

These forces, once dismantled, can receive legal benefits only if there is truth, the assurance of nonrecurrence or nonrepetition, and there is reparation.  In many cases these would be environmental reparations within – at our meeting we even discussed the topic of illegal mining and its effect on the main rivers of Colombia, and that the Colombian media know very well its effects.

And there is another topic that we did not discuss in great length, which is extradition.  What happens if a person, one of these gang members who has been requested in extradition or whose extradition is requested, is part of a peace process in Colombia?  And this is a topic that already took place regarding FARC some years ago, and in a very dark manner, let it be said in passing.

What I am proposing and what I’ve proposed is that any member of the drug trafficking chain who decides to subject themselves to justice, giving the assurance of nonrecurrence, would not be extradited.  And that is dependent on my signature, but actually should be dependent on a law because it should not depend on the political will of a government that will come to an end, but should have some kind of legal certainty.  Any drug trafficker or anyone participating in the drug chain and will not subject themselves to justice will be extradited, and I’ve signed already some 80 extraditions.  Any drug trafficker who is part of the drug chain and will subject himself to the justice system but will not comply with the nonrecurrence and – will be extradited to the U.S.  And what I have said to the U.S. is that they impose the highest possible sanction in the U.S. because they failed to comply with the legal process in Colombia.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you, President Petro.  This process continues.  It’s a process that depends on decisions by two sovereign nations, and we fully respect the sovereign decisions by the Colombian Government.  In our judgment, the extradition relationship has benefited both the United States and Colombia.  It’s benefited justice in both countries.  It’s benefited the victims of transnational crime in both.  It’s one important tool to help dismantle the transnational criminal organizations that do so much damage to both of our societies.  And we’ll continue to work closely together on this.  It’s also very case-specific, and so our systems will work together.  We’ll continue to investigate.  We’ll continue to seek to prosecute those who violate both of our laws.  And we’ll continue to work on extraditions.

QUESTION:  (Via interpreter) A couple of weeks ago, Leidy Paola Martinez died in a cell in the States.  She committed suicide when her husband was unable to cross the border.  She is one of the many faces of illegal migration, and President Petro has just publicly requested that the U.S. provide a temporary protection status to Colombian illegal aliens and illegal migrants.  And what is your opinion of that proposal?

And for you, President Petro, a few days ago at the closing of the UN General Assembly, you said that a few days later you would announce a formal proposal to have a multilateral ceasefire, and that would depend on whether groups will take the first step, and many of these groups have imposed a unilateral ceasefire.  So what will continue from now from the Colombian Government given the ceasefire?  Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Let me – first of all, I’m not aware of the specific case that you referenced.  But let me step back for a minute and go back to something that President Petro said because it’s very, very important.

When it comes to migration, we are facing a challenge of historic proportions.  There are more people displaced from their homes across our planet than at any time in recorded history – more than 100 million – and of course we see that in our own hemisphere as well as beyond.  In our own hemisphere, migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, from Haiti, from Cuba, from Venezuela, from Nicaragua, and so on.  And the entire hemisphere is affected by this.  The countries of origin are affected; the countries of transit are affected; the countries of destination, including the United States, are affected.

And what I think has been a fundamental change in the approach to this challenge is a recognition that we have to have shared responsibility across our hemisphere for dealing with it, and that’s something that we began last year, including here in Bogotá, where we brought together ministers from around the hemisphere, and it culminated in many ways with the Los Angeles Declaration at the Summit of the Americas, where more than 20 countries in our hemisphere agreed to share principles for how to deal with the migration challenge that all of us are facing – to make sure that it is safe, to make sure that it is humane, to make sure that it is orderly and respects the rule of law.

Our own country is taking very significant steps in this regard, even as we have large numbers of people seeking to come to the United States.  We’re working to expand legal pathways to come to the United States.  We’re working on issuing more temporary work visas to meet a very clear demand in the United States.  We’re making sure that we’re – when it comes to those who have a credible claim of asylum that we are meeting our responsibilities under international law, including by putting vast new resources at our border so that their claims can be adjudicated much more quickly than in the past.

At the same time, we want to make sure that people throughout the hemisphere are treated with dignity, are treated with humanity, and we’re doing a lot of work with partner countries to make sure that that’s happening.  Some additional steps will be forthcoming in the days and weeks ahead.  But if we’re not able to address this challenge together, we won’t succeed.

There’s one other critical element; the President alluded to it.  It’s not that most people in our hemisphere or beyond get up one day and say, “Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful to leave behind everything I know – to leave behind my family, my culture, my language, my job – and make a very hazardous journey, put my lives – my life in the hands of traffickers?  Wouldn’t that be a great thing to do today?”  There are profound reasons why so many people are embarking on this hazardous journey, and in our own hemisphere it’s typically because in the countries they’re leaving they have no economic opportunity, no means to simply put food on the table to feed their families, or they’re faced with a repressive government, violation of human rights, corruption that eats away at everything.

So unless and until we’re able to effectively address these root causes of migration, we’re also not going to fully meet the challenge.  And so we have to do all of the above, and we have to do it together.  And that’s a commitment that the countries in the hemisphere made in Los Angeles.  We’ll be carrying that through in a couple of days when we’re in Peru; we’re going to be having a follow-on meeting with all of the ministers from the relevant countries to look at the concrete steps that we’re taking.

When it comes to TPS, I would say simply that this is a – in our law, a very – a tool designed specifically to allow people to remain in the United States who are not able to go back to their countries of origin because of a crisis that is taking place in those countries.  And that’s why, in the case of Venezuelans, we have temporary protected status for them, just as Colombia does, because they’re not able – given the crisis situation, the humanitarian catastrophe that is Venezuela, the horrific economic mismanagement as well as the political repression that exists – they simply can’t return.  That’s what TPS is designed for.  But more broadly, as I said, we’re looking at ways to increase legal pathways to the United States on either a long-term or temporary basis, and that would certainly include Colombians.

PRESIDENT PETRO: (Via interpreter) September’s statistics – and this is very similar to the migration numbers I just shared with you – is a very short period of time for us to be able to draw conclusions at this point.  However, the September statistics reveal that the month had the lowest number of former combatants assassinated, and former combatants that had signed the peace agreement, and the minor – and the lowest number of massacres and killing of social leaders in this year.  However, this year – this year’s numbers are higher than last year’s numbers.  Such is the intensity of the violence that has increased along the routes of drug trafficking that are blood routes this year.

So what we have today is that after significant growth, we see that the numbers drop in September.  Will that trend prevail?  Is this the result of an atmosphere that has been created in Colombia regarding the expectation of a negotiation?  I think so.

Regarding the possibility of peaceful dismantling of narcotics trafficking, I think yes, because we have seen a reduction in violence in the month of September.  And the government’s goal is to preserve that.  I know it will not be an easy task.  And this is not a multilateral ceasefire; we should not confuse it.  It is more an atmosphere of deterrence that can break down at any point.  I would say that the multilateral ceasefire must occur later on in time.  An intelligent question could very well be:  The ceasing of hostilities with a typically drug-trafficking organization, what does that mean?  It means that we will stop persecuting it because they are drug traffickers?  No.  It means that it decided to subject itself to justice, and it will initiate a process of, first, legal negotiation of legal benefits versus the assurance of non-repetition, reparation, and dismantling, and that goes hand in hand with putting an end to all the killings, to all the assassinations, and to the disappearing and massacres.

Yesterday we met with the Catholic church upon the Catholic church’s initiative called “You Will Not Kill, You Will Not Disappear,” is the name of that campaign, and it’s a countrywide campaign.  They killed one person.  A member of my political party was killed in Salgar, a small municipality in the department of Antioquia.  And who killed our party follower in a small municipality in Antioquia?  That’s what we need to know.  And it’s important for purposes of assuring that the lowering of tensions will be extended in time and that we will achieve a significant reduction in violence, and for it not to transform into an attempt to sabotage these total peace processes in a systematic elimination of the followers of my party, as has been the case in the past.

And that’s why I’ve asked the minister of defense to provide one of the highest rewards to know who, in a small municipality like Salgar, ordered the assassination of our political coordinator in that municipality, for this to be a discouragement if what they want to do is to sabotage this process more so than a political intent that has existed in Colombia in other times, in past times, so in response.

If these negotiations will be initiated, then what would be a magical consequence is putting an end to the hostilities, which means not killing, not disappearing, not massacring.

MODERATOR:  Thank you very much.  And I think that with this we come to the end of this press conference.  Thank you, President.  Thank you, Secretary Blinken.

Murillo initially opposed left-wing President Elect Petro, running as the vice-presidential candidate under former Medellín Mayor Sergio Fajardo, a moderate-left centrist.

According to Colombia’s foreign relations ministry, Murillo is a mining engineer by education, with a MS in Engineering Science. Murillo is credited with creating Colombia’s public policy framework for climate change mitigation and was instrumental in implementing the country’s carbon tax and carbon markets. Murillo also had a hand in Colombia’s tax on disposable plastic shopping bags.

55 years old, Murillo was born in the small rainforest town of Andagoya, Chocó. Due to his high scores on Colombia’s ICFES high school exams (somewhat similar to the SAT or ACT in the US), he was invited to apply for, and received a scholarship to study mining engineering at Moscow State University in Russia.

Murillo returned to Colombia in 1991 and worked in environmental governance of the mining sector in Chocó. He then accepted a role with the Antanus Mockus mayoral administration in Bogotá with the predecessor agency to the city’s Secretary of The Environment.

In 1997, Murillo was elected as governor of Chocó on a platform of environmental protection, rural rights, and clean government. During an era when much of Colombia was still extremely dangerous, this earned him powerful enemies, who conspired to remove him from office. Soon thereafter, he was kidnapped.

Murillo sought, and received political asylum in 2000, where he worked to raise awareness of the plight of socially excluded Afrocolombians like himself. Many people who have not traveled to Colombia remain to this day unaware of Colombia’s large black population, or its racially mixed majority.

In the United States, like many immigrants he had a humble start, counting on the generosity of friends and working the jobs available while he polished English skills and forged connections.

Soon however, he found himself back in his policy element, busy in leadership roles across the spectrum of policy and advocacy organizations. Murillo served in Washington as senior international policy advisor for the Lutheran World Relief International Cooperation Agency, Vice President of Operations for the Phelps Stokes foundation. He consulted for USAID, the United Nations Development Program, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. During this period, he organized over 150 bilateral delegations between the US and Colombia, and was called on to testify in the US Congressional Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of the Committee on International Affairs.

Murillo was elected governor of Chocó for a second time, but the area remained dangerous and he was unable to complete his term.

In 2014, President Juan Manuel Santos appointed Murillo as director of the “Todos Somos Pazcifico” program, playing on the words Peace (Paz) and Pacific, as Chocó’s geography runs along Colombia’s Pacific coast. In this role, he managed the solicitation and approval process for a $400 million USD World Bank and InterAmerican Development Bank loan dedicated to potable water, sewer, sanitation and renewable energy for Chocó.

Santos promoted Murillo in 2016 to Minister of The Environment and Sustainable Development, where he represented Colombia in negotiations on The Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Minamata Convention for control of mercury poisoning.

According to Colombia’s foreign ministry, Murillo was a professor at Colombia’s Externado University, Santo Tomas University and the Technological University of Chocó. Since 2019 he has been a researcher at the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS), at American University, in Washington, DC.

From 2020 until this appointment, he was a Martin Luther King Scholar at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) attached to the Environmental Solutions Initiative where he focused his work on natural climate solutions and their impact on environmental protection, the fight against poverty, and social inclusion of Afrocolombian communities in the Western Hemisphere. He is the first Colombian and one of the few Latin Americans who has been part of MIT’s Martin Luther King Program.

Colombia has voted for change in Petro. But, in terms of the fight against organized crime, what shape will this change take?

This article generously shared by Insight Crime. The original can be read here.

Deforestation appears unstoppable. The production of cocaine continues virtually unabated. Major criminal groups, such as the ELN and the ex-FARC Mafia, pose severe threats across Colombia while a newer generation of urban gangs threaten cities. And finally, what of the relationship with Venezuela, which Gustavo Petro has pledged to repair, despite the regime of President Nicolás Maduro having harbored and even aided guerrilla groups.

Here, InSight Crime analyzes five security challenges awaiting the new president-elect head-on once he enters the Palace of Nariño in August.

The Beating Heart of the Global Cocaine Trade

Despite a slight decline in total coca crops in 2019 and 2020, Colombia remains far and away the world’s largest cocaine producer.

According to figures from the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), while crops have decreased for four years in a row, crop yields and overall cocaine production are at an all-time high. What’s more, about half of all coca is being farmed in protected areas, such as environmental reserves, Indigenous reservations or Afro-Colombian communities. Furthermore, little to no progress has been made in changing the dynamics in traditional hotspots for coca crops, such as the southern department of Nariño, or Norte de Santander, along the border with Venezuela.

Eradication efforts have shown little long-term impact. According to the UNODC, half of all cleared areas quickly showed signs of replanting and 37 percent of such areas saw new coca crops planted within 500 meters. Additionally, the use of forced eradication remains controversial and the National Crop Substitution Plan, which was supposed to encourage coca farmers to voluntarily move away from the trade by supporting them in developing alternative crops, has stagnated. This has all generated deep mistrust of government policies in coca-growing areas.

Furthermore, the process of extracting cocaine hydrochloride is becoming more effective, with crystallizers able to produce more cocaine than ever. The potential production of cocaine increased from 6.7 kilograms per hectare in 2019 to 7.9 kilograms in 2020, according to the UNODC. This means that approximately 1,228 tons of cocaine can be produced in Colombia every year.

SEE ALSO: Colombia’s Cocaine Keeps On Reaching New Heights: UNODC Report

This naturally has had a major positive effect for organized crime groups. More cocaine means a more constant flow of weapons and money, which in turn means an ability to secure control and expand their territory. The presence of Mexican, Italian and Balkan cartels has also had a direct impact on the demand for more cocaine hydrochloride.

Petro cannot solve the problem alone. Relations with Venezuela will remain the most pressing international obstacle to solving drug trafficking, while shipments to Ecuador have become a huge driver of violence in that country. Cocaine connections to Brazil, Panama and the Caribbean will also require a multilateral approach.

Is the FARC Peace Deal Still Salvageable?

The peace agreement reached in 2016 between the government and the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC) is in real trouble. Coca substitution plans have stalled, violence in certain parts of Colombia has worsened and former FARC fighters are regularly threatened and killed.

At a purely legislative level, the Kroc Institute for Peace Studies has estimated that 37 percent of the provisions of the peace agreement have seen only minimal progress. Access to land and viable economic projects for those who laid down their weapons remains difficult.

At the 2021 UN General Assembly, outgoing president Iván Duque highlighted progress made on the agreement during his tenure, although recognizing that criminal groups remained a major obstacle.

The figures do not show much progress. According to figures from the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz), 21 former combatants and 86 social leaders and human rights defenders have been killed in Colombia this year alone. During the Duque government to date, at least 930 people belonging to these categories have been assassinated. Not all of these can be directly associated to organized crime. But a large portion of these slain activists were directly working on the implementation of the FARC peace deal, including crop substitution and land restitution.

According to Mateo Gómez, a researcher at Barómetro quoted by the newspaper El Espectador, caring for ex-combatants and those forcibly displaced by violence will be an urgent issue for Gustavo Petro’s incoming government.

The Expansion of Colombia’s Criminal Groups

Of Colombia’s roster of criminal groups, three present the largest problems.

The National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN) is arguably in the best position to be a major thorn in the side of Gustavo Petro. While its major enemies have been decimated by criminal rivalries and government action, the ELN has consolidated its presence in Venezuela, taking over many of the spaces left behind by the FARC, and is particularly strong in the border area.

Figuring out how to deal with the ELN will be one of Petro’s foremost priorities. Since the collapse of peace talks in January 2019, after the ELN bombed a police training school, the group has expanded rapidly. While its leadership has expressed itself ready to return to the negotiating table, it showed its strength in February 2022, by paralyzing large parts of the country with a series of coordinated strikes. Any conciliation will be made more difficult by the fact the ELN appears to have at least the tacit approval of Venezuela’s President Maduro to continue its criminal activities in exchange for a cut of the profits.

The dissident FARC, known as the ex-FARC Mafia, are in a precarious state. They remain powerful but fractured and leaderless after a series of targeted strikes has killed many of their commanders in the last 18 months.

Both the major factions of FARC rebels have suffered heavy losses, with the Second Marquetalia in particular now severely weakened. Its commander, Luciano Marín, alias “Iván Márquez,” has not been heard of for many months and could either be in hiding or trying to rebuild his group.

But the ex-FARC Mafia remain strong, especially in the south and the Pacific, commanded by Néstor Gregorio Vera, alias “Iván Mordisco.” However, a series of new leaders have emerged, with less loyalty to the FARC’s political ideologies and more focus on criminal income.

And the Urabeños, also known as the Gulf Clan (Clan del Golfo) or the  the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC), have been battered but still have potential to cause nationwide problems.

After their leader, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel,” was extradited to the United States in May 2022, the group’s cohesion has been in doubt. While the Urabeños have always allowed franchise gangs to operate with some degree of autonomy, recent actions by said franchises have not seemed aligned. This risks forcing Petro to deal with highly active, smaller gangs, who will fight tooth and nail to defend their small part of an overall criminal economy, such as a drug trafficking route.

A similar scenario is already taking place in cities where smaller gangs are fighting for control of microtrafficking and international routes. In the north, the Pachenca have been terrorizing Santa Marta and the Costeños have been fighting for control of drug trafficking in Barranquilla. The Mexicanos and the Local have been staking claims to parts of the Colombian Pacific, the Cordillera has tried to extend its dominance from the southern state of Nariño and La Oficina as always has had a part to play in Medellín.

The Border with Venezuela

For Gustavo Petro, Venezuela may seem like a multi-headed hydra. The ELN and ex-FARC Mafia have grown rapidly in the country. Homegrown Venezuelan gangs are making their mark on Colombian soil. The government of President Maduro has revealed itself to be, if not a facilitator, at least a regulator of the cocaine trade. Human smuggling, contraband and environmental crimes are also rife between the two countries. And there is little to no communication set up between Caracas and Bogotá.

In Norte de Santander, on the Colombian side of the border, the ELN has made itself the dominant criminal actor in the coca-growing enclave of Catatumbo, while continuing its expansion into the interior of Venezuela. The Urabeños are actively trying to establish control of Cúcuta, arguably the most vital criminal crossroads along the border. They also control remote trails between Puerto Santander and San Antonio del Táchira, along which migrants are extorted. And the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, is clinging on to control of its own cross-border trails, despite facing a war with the ELN.

Further south, outbreaks of violence in Apure and Arauca continue to affect the civilian population. In 2021, during a prolonged fight between the Venezuelan government and the dissident FARC 10^th Front, an estimated 6,000 people were displaced and fled into Colombia. Continuing violence in the area, now involving the ELN, has seen this figure continue to increase, placing a humanitarian crisis into Petro’s hands.

Migration, in general, will be a vital issue for Petro to deal with. Around 2 million Venezuelans have fled to Colombia, many of whom live in economically precarious situations and have been preyed on by criminal groups for recruitment, extortion and more.

The Advance of Environmental Plunder

Successive Colombian governments have stalled in their duties as custodians of the Amazon. Since 2017, 220,000 hectares of forest cover have been lost.

Petro will have to learn from this recent political history. Government initiatives to curb deforestation have been tried. None have lasted for long.

And while specific areas have shown reductions in deforestation, the problem has worsened elsewhere. In 2018, although the total number of hectares deforested fell to 197,159 ha, rates increased drastically in the departments of Meta and Putumayo.

Same story in 2019 when, despite another overall drop, the northern departments of Chocó and Norte de Santander saw deforestation increase. This was heavily linked to the spread of other criminal economies, such as illegal mining and coca cultivation.

According to Rodrigo Botero, director of the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development, this will be one of Petro’s main environmental challenges. Instead of a national approach, Botero suggested that the new government should measure deforestation rates in terms of the forest cover remaining in highly vulnerable areas.

Even in 2022, deforestation is concentrated in similar places. National parks and other protected areas in Meta, Caquetá and Guaviare account for the bulk of deforestation, according to Colombia’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales – IDEAM).

The new government will also have to tackle both the legal and illegal drivers of such deforestation. As extensively explored by InSight Crime, the likes of the ELN and ex-FARC Mafia encourage the burning of forests and building of illegal roads through the jungle to further drug trafficking and illegal mining.

However, cattle ranching and palm cultivation remain by far the largest causes of deforestation in Colombia. While legal, these are fed by the illegal appropriate of land, a crime that has received little visibility to date and benefits certain political and business elites.

This practice sees large parcels illegally occupied and the communities living there forcibly displaced. The forest is then cut down and turned into land for pasture. Extortion of nearby communities and money laundering through the forestry trade are common.

A recently created Law for Environmental Crimes, passed in 2021, marks such land appropriation as a crime. But the new president will have to actively confront this criminal economy often hidden in plain sight.

This article by Juan Diego Posada, Juan Diego Cárdenas, and Lara Loaiza has beengenerously shared by Insight Crime under a creative commons license. The original can be read here.

President Elect Gustavo Petro met with his campaign opponent Rodolfo Hernandez, who will now serve as senator. (photo: Twitter)

Not only did he meet with his defeated opponent, construction magnate and former Mayor of Bucaramanga, Rodolfo Hernandez, but he also sat down to meet with his longtime bitter political nemesis, former President and Senator Álvaro Uribe (above left). Uribe’s political movement, the Centro Democrático party, colloquially known as the “Uribistas” is the most hardline opposition to confirmed leftists such as Petro, but even moderates such as former President Juan Manuel Santos, who negotiated a historic peace accord with FARC rebels, earning him a Nobel Peace Prize.

Uribe’s political acolyte, the unpopular outgoing President Ivan Duque has been roundly criticized for failing to implement the peace accords, and the newly released human rights report by Colombia’s Truth Commission, created as a result of the peace pact, has called both the Duque and Uribe administrations to task for human rights failures. Petro says he will implement the peace accord and follow the recommendations of the commission, while Uribe’s “Uribista” politicians have been active criticizing both Petro and the Truth Commission.

Uribe, after meeting with Petro, to the consternation of both his militant supporters and bitter opponents (who would only be satisfied seeing the former president behind bars), said that he will work with Petro to resolve the problems of poverty, and that they had very productive, wide-ranging conversations on the environment and energy, health and pensions, agrarian reform, the Peace Process, crime & security, and taxation. It is not that they agreed on policy, but agreed in principle to have a productive, ongoing dialogue.

Petro has also already met with outgoing President Ivan Duque and reports a cordial meeting. After Colombia’s government-controlled petroleum giant Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC) took a 12% plunge in Monday’s trading immediately after Petro’s election, he tried to calm markets, saying in an interview with Cambio magazine that his strategy changes with the petroleum company and the country’s broader oil and gas industry will be gradual.

Cabinet Appointments

Petro has already announced his foreign minister, Álvaro Leyva Durán, a former senator of Colombia’s Conservative Party, peace negotiator, and 2006 presidential candidate. Leyva once served as the minister of mines and energy and was a political exile in Costa Rica during the presidency of Andrés Pastrána from 1998 until 2006, when he was absolved of conspiracy charges by the Supreme Court.

“The biggest challenge for the new government is overcoming social inequalities.” – José Antonio Ocampo

Though a long-time member of Colombia’s conservative party, Leyva has worked on many occasions as a successful negotiator with armed insurgents, and promoter of peace.

Petro has also confirmed that economist and professor José Antonio Ocampo will be named finance minister. Ocampo is currently a professor at Columbia University in New York, after serving a term as the United Nations Undersecretary of Economics and Social Affairs. While widely respected as an economist, he also has bona fides as keen to remediate Colombia’s vast social inequalities.

Rumors have not been confirmed that Alejandro Gaviria, rector of the prestigious University of The Andes, and centrist presidential candidate in the recent elections will be minister of education. He already served as health minister during the term of previous President Juan Manuel Santos, where he was widely respected.

Though Gaviria was born in Chile, he is the son of a one-time mayor of Medellin. Even though he runs one of Colombia’s most elite, “blue-blooded” universities, he has been outspoken on educational equity and access for all students.

These three appointments point to a moderate approach, as all three appointees (Gaviria has not yet been announced publicly) are existing politicians or political appointees, known quantities, and none can be called “radical.”

The Vice Presidents

Outgoing Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez also met with Vice President Elect Francia Marquez to discuss an orderly transition, along with gender and human rights issues. Ramirez has recently been under a cloud due to her husband’s business dealings with a convicted gangster, and a dubious land deal on Colombia’s San Andrés Island in The Caribbean.

Outgoing Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez (left) also met with Vice President Elect Francia Marquez. (Photo: Twitter)

The US government has also announced that a meeting between Kamala Harris and Vice President Elect Francia Marquez was being scheduled. Marquez already met with Costa Rican Vice President Epsy Campbell.

The incoming vice president also met with her election opponent, Dr. Marelen Castillo, also an afrocolombian woman, engineer and academic who will now serve in Congress. In Colombian elections, the losing presidential candidate in the runoff gets a seat in the Colombian Senate, and the losing vice-presidential candidate gets a seat in the legislature as a congressional representative.

Marquez sent out a tweet of the two women together reading: “Women united, we are stronger. #SoyPorqueSomos” the tag translating as “I am because we are,” the famous Ubuntu concept.

Las mujeres unidas somos más fuertes. #SoyPorqueSomos pic.twitter.com/XofcAkWKWs

— Francia Márquez Mina (@FranciaMarquezM) June 29, 2022

The new vice president is a 40-year-old mother of two, who hails from a rural area by the Ovejas river in the Cauca department, southwest of Cali, Colombia. In her youth, she worked as a gold miner in the informal mining sector and domestic worker, but came to oppose the informal, often illegal mining that takes place outside of the auspices of a commercial mining company or government supervision. Informal mining in Colombia is often controlled by violent mafias, may involve human trafficking and slavery, and environmental and health damage due to the use of toxic chemicals like mercury.

Marquez along with 70 other women walked 600 kilometers from the Cauca department to Bogotá to demand that the government take action against illegal mining and the contamination it brings. This brought the wrath of mafias controlling the gold mining activities upon her, and she had to flee to Cali to protect her own life and that of her two children.

She later participated in the 2016 Peace Accords between the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC rebels, testifying on how the armed conflict harmed afrocolombian communities, especially women.

Before being elected vice president, Marquez was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, the Joan Alsina Human Rights Award for 2019, the BBC’s Top 100 Influential Women of 2019, and the National Award for the Defense of Human Rights in Colombia.

Presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernandez (photo: candidate)

Perhaps the biggest surprise was former mayor and business empresario Rodolfo Hernandez along with running mate Dr. Marelen Castillo taking second place over former Medellín Mayor Federico Gutierrez and running mate Dr. Rodrigo Lara. Gutierrez had very strong support in the important Antioquia region and was seen as the leading contender to unify conservative and centrist voters against Petro.

Hernandez, a civil engineer with a successful construction company that has a track record building affordable housing, was mayor of Bucaramanga from 2016-2019, resigning from the post a year before his term ended, with an 84% approval rating. As mayor he gained a reputation for battling corruption. Hernandez also has a reputation for being outside of Colombia’s traditional political machinery. It is not easy to pin a right-left label on Hernandez, though he could be called a socially liberal (or at least tolerant) pro-business candidate.

Unlike current president Ivan Duque, 3^rd place finisher Federico Gutierrez (nicknamed Fico) never belonged to Alvaro Uribe’s now unpopular Centro Democrático political machine. Still, his opponents, especially the campaign of Gustavo Petro successfully painted Fico as an extension of the “Uribistas,” supporters of former president and embattled Senator Alvaro Uribe and his Medellín power base.

Opposite histories

Rodolfo Hernandez is a victim of leftist guerilla violence. According to the candidate, his father was kidnapped and held for 135 days by the FARC communist rebels, and his own daughter was kidnapped and killed by the ELN, another communist rebel group that today functions primarily as a narcotics and extortion mafia. Despite this, Hernandez has come out in support of the peace process negotiated by former President Juan Manuel Santos, criticized current President Ivan Duque’s failure to implement the plan, and Hernandez has even said he wishes to negotiate a path for the ELN to disarm.

Gustavo Petro (photo:gustavopetro.com.co)

On the other hand, the former mayor of Bogotá, Gustavo Petro is himself a former leftist guerilla and member of the violent M-19 group that attacked the country’s justice ministry and raided the embassy of the Dominican Republic, both with fatal results. Petro served time in prison for illegal possession of firearms in connection with his M-19 activities.

Though Petro’s term as mayor of Bogotá was something of a fiasco, he is buoyed by wide dissatisfaction and even disgust with the leadership, or lack thereof, of current President Ivan Duque and his political godfather, Alvaro Uribe. Duque has failed to connect on any emotional level with regular Colombians, has refused to implement or comply with the peace agreement negotiated with the former FARC rebels, has been hapless against resurgent rebel groups and criminal cartels in Colombia, and is seen as so weak that these groups have even taken potshots at his helicopter. On the right, Duque’s incompetency is seen as potentially handing the country over to Petro, who would be Colombia’s first far-left president.

Diverse vice-presidential candidates

Despite its large population of African and mixed descendants, Colombia has only had one president with a “black” phenotype, José Nieto Gil, recognized and honored by former President Juan Manuel Santos after shadowy attempts to erase him from the history books. Unlike México with its Zapotec President Benito Juarez, widely recognized as the Mesoamerican country’s national hero, Colombia has never had a head of state with an indigenous phenotype. But barring an unforeseen shock, Colombia’s next vice president will be a black woman.

Of the eight vice-presidential candidates in last Sunday’s runoff, five are black and three are black women. There is also wide diversity in socioeconomic background. While Petro’s running mate Francia Marquez is herself a firebrand activist and protest leader who worked her way through law school as a maid, Hernandez’s Marelen Castillo is career professor with a PhD from Nova Southeastern University in the US, and rector of one of Colombia’s Catholic universities. Castillo also holds degrees in biology, chemistry, and a master’s degree in industrial engineering.

Luis Gilberto Murillo was the Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development under former President Juan Manuel Santos

Of the vice-presidential candidates that didn’t make it to the runoff, Luis Gilberto Murillo was moderate left candidate Sergio Fajardo’s running mate. Murillo is the former governor of Colombia’s Chocó department on the Pacific coast and has lived in both Washington DC where he worked as a senior policy analyst, and Moscow, where he earned a master’s degree in mining engineering. He is certified as a Russian language instructor. Murillo was also a victim of kidnapping in 2000, which is what prompted him to seek refuge in the US until the security situation improved.

Ceferino Mosquera was running mate of Luis Perez, a former governor of Antioquia and former mayor of Medellín. Mosquera is a lawyer and former law professor and was once on city council in the Pacific coastal city of Buenaventura.

Sandra de las Lajas Torres Paz was running mate of John Milton Rodriguez, and hails from the small Pacific coastal city of Tumaco, Nariño. After her family lost everything to a tidal wave, she emigrated to the city of Cali at the age of 14. Torres holds several master’s degrees and has had a career spanning several government positions with a focus on battling discrimination and racism.

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Image: Registraduria Nacionál de Colombia