The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, will travel next week (the first of October 2022) to Colombia and Chile to establish ties with the new leftist leaders of these countries with strong historical ties to the United States, the State Department announced Friday.
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The tour will start on Monday, October 3, the day after the general elections in Brazil, where the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro faces the leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Washington has warned this week that “follow closely” the elections on Brazilian soil and asked that they be “free and clean“.
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On Monday, Blinken will travel to Colombia, where will you meet President Gustavo Petro. On Wednesday the 5th, Blinken will go to Chili and will meet with the president Gabriel Boric.
In the southern country, the Secretary of State will visit the National Electrical Coordinator, an agency that controls the operation of Chile’s electrical system, at a time when the United States is trying to promote sources of renewable energy.
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Later, he will travel to Peru to participate in the annual general assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), in which he will meet with the secretary general of the regional bloc, Luis Almagro, and will co-chair a meeting on irregular migration, a major problem for the United States on its border with Mexico.
In Lima he will also hold a meeting with the Peruvian president peter castle and senior officials to discuss regional security, environment and economic development.
According to the State Department, Blinken will focus the trips on the priorities of the government of President Joe Biden: democracy and the fight against climate change.
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Blinken’s first stop will be in Colombia, where he will speak “support for strong democratic governments and respect for human rights” in the Americas and the implementation of the 2016 peace agreement, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in the statement.
Gustavo Petro, in his speech at the UN.
He will also talk about “implement a holistic approach to counter drug trafficking and address its impacts on health, safety and the environment“, said.
Petro has promised to bring lasting peace to Colombia after six decades of violence, in part by reforming the drug war model (backed by the United States) to emphasize consumption rather than production.
Blinken will also speak in Colombia about the protection in the country of Venezuelan migrants, which considers “a model for the region“Price said.
AFP
