The Colombian president made critical remarks about the obsolete "war on drugs" that the U.S. has inefficiently promoted over the last decades.
In a meeting held in New York on Sunday, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro explained to the United Nations Secretary Antonio Guterres the actions that his administration will take to achieve "Total Peace" in Colombia.
During the meeting, Petro made critical remarks about the consequences of the obsolete "war on drugs" that the United States has inefficiently promoted over the last decades.
"There are millions of deaths and hundreds of detainees in Latin America and the United States that are not from the war on drugs," he recalled, emphasizing that this war has only served to further strengthen criminal organizations and destroy democracies. Therefore, Petro called on the countries to structure new strategies in this regard.
"It is necessary to unify Latin America in a different position from the one it has had up to now and open the paths of a great world discussion... Instead of investing public resources in murder and democratic destruction, it is better to promote prevention so that young people do not embark on the path of consumption.”
Guterres expressed to Petro the UN's willingness to collaborate with his government in consolidating peace, and specifically in the tasks of "protecting communities from violence, fighting inequality, promoting sustainable development and providing a holistic response to the drug issue."
Later, Petro traveled to Queens, where he was received by dozens of Colombians who greeted him with shouts of "Yes, We could." In an emotional speech, he stressed that Colombians had not been an emigrant people but the Colombian diaspora has increased in recent years.
Petro stressed that Latin American emigrants often face difficult situations in places "where not even the laws protect them, where they are a kind of outcasts, persecuted on a daily basis, looking around corners and protecting themselves."
by teleSUR/ JF
