The crisis of Venezuela was left out of Gustavo Petro’s speech during the inauguration on Sunday, August 7. A transcendental issue before the departure from power of Iván Duque, who for a large part of his mandate supported the millions of Venezuelans settled in that country. And a former president who, in addition, maintained a firm line against the regime of Nicolás Maduro and the very serious complaints of human rights violations.
Does it mean that it could have automatic solidarity with the Nicolás Maduro regime and that it will get rid of the migratory policies towards Venezuelans or, on the contrary, it was a matter of protocol?
The internationalist Beatriz de Majo, an expert in trade relations and a columnist for The National, He downplayed the fact that Petro had not mentioned the issue of Venezuela because he would have gotten into foreign policy and diplomacy issues. That, he said, was not the right or convenient time to talk about them. He considered that it was a very internal speech and directed strictly at the ordinary man in Colombia.
“I would have had to also talk about a lot of other things of international politics that he didn’t mention either, so it didn’t catch my attention. That he believes he can do something about it, no doubt he will, because the millions of Venezuelans on the border are such a large contingent that he has to resolve it somehow. Giving it some institutionality and trying to incorporate them into the future of Colombia », he pointed out.
Focused on three fundamental elements
Carlos Romero, political scientist and doctor in Political Science, agreed. He expressed that Petro’s words They focused on three fundamental elements for Colombian life: the eradication of violence, the continuity of peace commitments and the rearrangement of the economy in the international context.
Said the omission does not imply that Petro is unaware of its importance for Colombia. He recalled that on several occasions, during the electoral campaign and after winning the presidential elections, he spoke about these issues. In some way, he recognized that his predecessor had special consideration for migrants despite the setbacks with the Chavismo authorities.
For Romero, professor at the Central University of Venezuela, it was a general and short speech in which there were no details. “It was an organized, well-presented, coherent, well-received speech that, in a certain way, illustrates the important political change that is taking place in Colombia since Petro’s presidential victory,” he analyzed.
The internationalist questioned that Petro has spoken of the redistribution of wealth but has not dedicated a single word to the need for Colombia to produce so that there is job creation. “(He said) things that were a bit mocha, but very typical of this outdated leftism of which this man is a faithful representative,” he said.
De Majo and Luis Angarita, an internationalist and professor at the Central University of Venezuela, gave greater consideration to the large amount of symbolism during the act of assumption, which took place in the Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá.
Angarita pointed out not only that Petro has requested that the sword of Simón Bolívar be transferred to the act, but there was no red carpet, who greeted the people first before the Armed Forces and who arrived at the presidential palace in Nariño and greeted all the level personnel. «Trying to give an image that it is a government of the people, for the people; that the left belongs to the people and that it is a government of the people”, said the professor.
A “pathetic” act
De Majo, however, described the act of assumption as pathetic. Basically, the internationalist affirmed, there is the typical leftist populism of chavismo that leads to nothing and that if Petro really wanted to talk about Colombia as a new country, it was not the time to focus on other issues.
«I would not give so much importance to the issue of Bolívar’s sword. There is no left-wing ruler who does not want to appeal to those historical elements that bind the population together, and above all the population that does not know history, that does not know the significance of Bolívar’s sword. That he just has gibberish built up inside his head that makes him think that in some way this new hero named Gustavo Petro looks like Simón Bolívar»De Majo explained.
He pointed out that it was very clear that Petro is really thinking about creating a new Colombia, even without knowing how, but that he does know what he does not want for his country. Above all, he pointed out, eliminate the great social distance that exists between Colombians. “And the truth is that Colombia desperately needs to have more social equality in order to progress. And everything they can do in that sense should be good, it’s just not clear, “he said.
A strategic issue?
Luis Angarita believes that it could be a strategy. A moderation of the discourse in an attempt to show itself as a modern left and not to portray or identify with radical or failed sectors, as the possible case of Maduro. With that absence of the issue of Venezuela, he affirmed, he moved away from automatic solidarity.
The reestablishment of diplomatic and consular relations, the reopening of borders and the reactivation of trade is important for Venezuelans and Colombians because it is the most active binational crossing in the regionsaid the analyst. He added that a rapprochement between Gustavo Petro and Nicolás Maduro will mean a victory for the recognition plans of the Venezuelan government’s foreign policy.
For Angarita, the symbolism has to do with the forms of government. He stated that beyond all the pretensions that the leftist discourse may have, there is still pragmatism when it comes to creating public policies, of balance and consensus, which have to be produced internally and of equidistant strategies so as not to lose the main Colombian ally, which is the United States. “So the leftist discourse has the limit of facing the reality of making public policy,” he explained.
Peace, priority in Petro
De Majo stated that Petro’s first priority is peace. “The issue has him out of place because in order to redistribute wealth and socially deal with the number of Colombians who are within the poverty line, he has to put the country to work economically. For that, investments are needed, and for there to be investments, peace is essential. God knows what peace he is thinking of », he said.
“You may be thinking of a peace where impunity is the rule. That was, in part, what Juan Manuel Santos did, with his peace in Havana; He gave all the guerrillas the opportunity to sit in Congress and not pay the country back for all the barbarities they committed. Not even the main victims, who are all the dead and relatives of the people raped, kidnapped, looted, “he added.
De Majo said he is concerned that the president of Colombia spends the most important of his time trying to establish peace with the National Liberation Army.
«It would be in exchange for something, and I get the feeling that it would be to make life easier for the guerrillas. That is to say: impunity in exchange for peace. Peace is negotiated at first, but once the guerrillas realize that, by laying down their arms, they cannot live by cultivating the land or by holding positions in the ministries or in a company, think about returning to drug trafficking. I believe that Colombia is condemned to be a violent and drug-trafficking country as long as the great nations allow it. Frankly, that does worry me a lot, “explained the internationalist.
Romero stressed that the peace of Colombia is a bet of Petro and that the leader He must regain confidence in the peace process that was lost, he affirmed, due to the attitude of former President Duque in abandoning the commitments that had been achieved in Havana and the possibility of making peace with other sectors of the guerrilla.
Relations with Maduro
The political scientist believes that the reestablishment of relations between Colombia and Venezuela will be very beneficial. Above all, for the people who live in the border area. “We have three years with the borders closed. There is a breakdown of diplomatic, commercial and consular relations. That is, there is a kind of fracture that will gradually improve»he stated.
He stated that The Venezuelan opposition must put “its grain of sand” because he was careless in his relations with Petro and focused on relations with Duque.
“Until a certain moment they were practically beatifying President Duque, leaving aside the possibility that Petro won, and in politics you always have to keep the doors open, “said the internationalist. He also acknowledged that it will be difficult for the opposition to establish an immediate relationship of trust with the current Colombian government, but warned that it needs to happen as soon as possible.
“That there is a commission of the Venezuelan opposition that goes to Bogotá so that the Colombian government also has an interlocutor in the context of the Venezuelan political struggle,” he suggested.
The first approaches
Two days after Gustavo Petro assumed the Presidency of Colombia, Venezuelan General Vladimir Padrino López announced that, following instructions from Maduro, would establish immediate contact with the Colombian Defense Minister for the normalization of military relations.
Shortly after, this same Tuesday, the Colombian president, although he ruled out an upcoming meeting with Maduro, He assured that the countries have advanced in the talks. He stated that before the possession a rapprochement was already taking place, which includes the opening of the land border for pedestrian crossing, commercial, cultural, social, family, military and other connections.
At the end of July, Petro’s foreign minister, Álvaro Leyva, traveled to Táchira state. He met with Freddy Bernal, Chavista governor of the entity, to ease the process of reestablishing relations between Colombia and Venezuela.
