He President Gustavo Petro highlighted the political culture and economic stability of Uruguay, after meeting on Wednesday in Montevideo with his Uruguayan pair, Luis Lacalle Pouand with the elected president of this country, Yamandú Orsi.
“Sometimes Uruguay makes you envious because almost everyone lives like the Colombian upper middle class. They are workers, producers, women, they vote left or right…“Petro said.
(Further: Petro decorated the former president of Uruguay ‘Pepe’ Mujica with the Boyacá Cross).
The Colombian president gave a press conference after a meeting with Orsi, who upon taking office on March 1 will return power to the left after five years of center-right government of Lacalle Pou.
Gustavo Petro and Yamandu Orsi
Asked if he had discussed the situation in Venezuela with Lacalle Pou, Petro said yes, but without giving details. He also declined to answer if he will attend the eventual new inauguration of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, on January 10..
(Besides: ‘Good luck managing the country’s fiscal situation’: welcome to the new Minhacienda).
Petro preferred to expand on his “very close proximity“with Uruguay, a country with”100% clean energy“that can help Colombia”in the great fight to defossilize the world and make life prevail on the planet and not greed“.
“We remain committed to working hard in an articulation for the advances that Colombia itself has been making (…) in the face of decarbonization“said Orsi, emphasizing that the region has the “wonder” of the Amazon.
Gustavo Petro and Yamandu Orsi
From his date with Lacalle Pou, Petro highlighted a jasmine flower from the garden of the official residence, which the Uruguayan president gave him when he left. “A man who I consider decent and who has gotten along with me on several issues“, he wrote in X about the gesture of Lacalle Pou, whom he defined as “true republican right“.
“Right and left do not have to kill each other, they do not have to carry out coups d’état or exercise violence that kills people, they just have to talk and look for better paths.“he noted.”They just have to put flowers on the barrels of the rifles“.
(You can read: SGR budget receives green light in second debate: this is how its distribution is proposed).
Petro traveled to Uruguay to decorate former president José ‘Pepe’ Mujica with the highest honorary award of his countrya former guerrilla who became a reference for the world left, Orsi’s mentor.
“We both ended up leaving weapons behind, because we understood that peace was the most important and most revolutionary thing in a society.“said Petro, when mentioning the incorporation of both into democratic political life. The delivery of the Boyacá Cross to Mujica will be held on Thursday in the house where the former Uruguayan president (2010-2015) lives with his wife on the outskirts of Montevideo.
Petro’s visit takes place on the eve of the 65th Mercosur Summit in Montevideoin which it will not participate although there will be a representative of Colombia as an associated State.
AFP
