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Colombia’s President-elect of Gustavo Petro held a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday, one day after being elected, about the peace process and climate change.
“I had a 20-minute phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken,” Petro said in a message on his Twitter account.
According to the former mayor of Bogotá and the future president of Colombia, Blinken congratulated him on his election, and they talked “about the peace process and actions against climate change in our continent.”
Precisely, in his speech after his victory at the polls, Petro emphasized that he would propose that Latin American countries unite to talk with the United States and lay the foundations for an “energy transition.”
“I propose to the Government of the United States and to all the governments of America to sit down to dialogue to set the steps of the energy transition, the steps of the construction of a decarbonized economy, the steps of the construction of an economy of life in all America,” Petro expressed.
According to his words, the United States is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in America, while Colombia protects a “sponge” of absorption. “Why don’t we discuss this?” the president-elect said.
Blinken was one of the first to publicly congratulate Petro and stated that he wants to “tighten” the relationship with his government.
Petro won Sunday’s presidential runoff with almost 11.3 million votes (50.44%) against almost 10.6 million (47.31%) for his rival, the populist Rodolfo Hernandez, and on August 7, when he replaces Iván Duque, he will become the first left-wing president of the Latin American country.
