A call for the union of Colombia and Latin America and the search for peace with the armed groups were the main axes of the investiture speech of the new president of the country, the leftist Gustavo Petrowhich also announced major reforms, including a tax reform, focused on the social.
In a speech that lasted about an hour, the president gave clues as to what his government’s priorities will be, criticized the lack of unity of the Latin American countries and said it will work "to achieve true and definitive peace" that guarantee "a fair and secure life".
Petro, who at times could not avoid tears, also appealed to the liberator Simón Bolívar to call for unity, citing the phrase "the union must save us, how will division destroy us if it comes between us".
And, as his predecessors have done, he also quoted a passage from "One hundred years of solitude"of the Nobel Prize for Literature Gabriel García Márquez: "Everything written in them was unrepeatable forever and forever because the lineages condemned to a hundred years of solitude did not have a second chance on earth".
SECOND OPPORTUNITY
In addition to claiming the symbols of the "change"Petro took advantage of the appointment he made of "One hundred years of solitude" for talk about the "second opportunity" What do you expect to arrive in Colombia? under his command.
Along these lines, he affirmed that his government will be "decentralized" and will try to reach each of the corners of Colombia, because "The absence of the State hurts a lot in many parts of the country" and one of the keys will be to achieve "total peace".
"We have to end, once and for allwith six decades of violence and armed conflict. It can. We will comply with the Peace Agreement, we will strictly follow the recommendations of the Truth Commission report and we will work tirelessly to bring peace and tranquility to every corner of Colombia."said the president.
For this reason, he called on "all the armed to lay down their weapons in the nebulae of the past" what for "peace is possible" and so "end, once and for all, six decades of violence and armed conflict".
"For peace to be possible in Colombia, we need to talk, talk a lot, understand each other, look for common paths, produce changes"Peter stressed.
The president has promised a policy of "total peace"which ranges from resuming talks with the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) to achieving the legal submission of other groups.
But that peace, according to the president, only "it is possible if you change, for example, the policy against drugs" to one "strong consumption prevention policy in developed societies".
REFORMS
Petro assured in his speech that on Monday a tax reform focused on social matters will be presented to Congress to obtain resources to help the most vulnerable population and that seeks to raise 50 billion pesos (about 11,543 million dollars today) according to the estimates of the technical team of the new Government.
"Equality it is possible if we are able to create wealth for everyone, and if we are able to distribute it more fairly. That is why we propose an economy based on production, work and knowledge. And that is why we propose a tax reform that generates justice"said the president.
The president recalled that "10% of the Colombian population has 70% of the wealth"what he considered "nonsense and amorality".
In his Government, Petro will also propose "health and pension reforma reform of the employment contract, a reform of education".
"We have prioritized in the budget the infrastructure of education, health, drinking water, irrigation districts and neighborhood roads. Taxes will not be confiscatory, they will simply be fair, in a country that must recognize the enormous social inequality in which we live as an aberration, in a State that must protect the transparency of spending, and in a society that deserves to live in peace"said.
LATIN AMERICAN UNION
Petro also took advantage of his investiture to launch a forceful message in which he advocated Latin American unity in the face of the challenges imposed by a "complex world".
"Today we need to be more together and united than ever. As Simón Bolívar once said: ‘The union must save us, how will division destroy us if it comes between us‘. Let the division of Latin America come to an end. But Latin American unity cannot be a rhetoric, a mere speech"said the president.
The Colombian president assured that for Latin America it is "time to leave behind the blocks, the groups and the ideological differences to work together".
"Let’s understand once and for all forever that there is much more that unites us than what separates us. And that together we are stronger. Let’s make that unity dreamed of by our heroes, like Bolívar, San Martín, Artigas, Sucre and O’Higgins, a reality. It is not a utopia nor is it romanticism"he added.
With his clear proposals and after taking office, Petro will lead Colombia in the next four years with the aim of giving it a "second opportunity"then consider that "the challenges that we have as a nation require a stage of unity and basic consensus".
