Gustavo Petro’s visit to Spain will be the only state visit in Spain during 2023. “It is the best indicator of the importance that our country gives to Colombia,” said Pedro Sánchez, after the meeting with the Colombian president in La Moncloa. “A very important stage is opening to strengthen ties.” An appointment that has served to sign a dozen agreements, try to increase the economic relationship, the commitment to renewable energies and in which Petro has defended the fight of Colombia, of Latin America, against the “Spanish yoke”: “No I think there are defenders of this type of yoke, who want us to return to the time of serfs and slaves”.
Petro has been in Spain since Tuesday, May 2. A visit at the highest level, which, in addition to a meeting at the Royal Palace with the Kings, and a gala dinner, has included a speech by him in the Congress of Deputies. In La Moncloa, she has had an hour-long meeting with Sánchez. In the subsequent appearance before the media, where only one question time per country has been allowed -up to now there were two-, the Colombian president presented his reflection on the statements he made the day before landing in Spain, in which affirmed that the Colombian people fought to get rid of the “Spanish yoke”.
Petro has hidden behind the fact that both in America and in Europe there have been revolutions, struggles, to achieve freedom. “In high school, in History classes, in general we were taught that feudalism was a system of domination. That people were even separated into classes: serfs and slaves against feudal lords. That was a society of yoke, that’s why the people rose up”, reflected the Colombian president. In his argument, he has appealed to what happened in Europe centuries ago to support his theory: “The peasant wars in Europe were an attempt to liberate the peasantry at that time.”
He has even pointed to Spain as an example of these struggles to free themselves from certain yokes, trying to minimize his criticism, although without specifying examples: “Spain has shown some beautiful passages in the History of attempts by peoples to free themselves from the yoke. We, also”. And he added: “I don’t see it as problematic to say it, because there were people, thoughts, revolutions here and there that freed us from the feudal yoke.”
One of the priority issues that has been on the table is “the opening of dialogue processes with illegal armed groups -such as the National Liberation Army (ELN)-, which can lead to an end to violence and build a lasting peace , based on the principles of truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition”, as stated in the joint declaration formulated by both countries. “I have reiterated the commitment of Spain, of Spanish society as a whole, to support its ambitious and courageous peace plan. Spain is an accompanying country,” said Sánchez, who has announced that our country is going to contribute one million euros in 2023 to these dialogue processes.
In this sense, Petro’s purpose, to ensure that this dialogue process advances, is for Spain to be a country that pushes for the ELN to leave the international lists of terrorist groups “and acquire a political status, maintaining a more towards the definitive cessation of violence”.
Given this position, Sánchez has opened the door to study this request but has tried to cool the matter down, pointing out that, in any case, it is not something in which Spain is going to mediate immediately and that it will do so depending on how it progresses and jell the peace process. “Spain has shown absolute willingness to help what we can, to talk with the rest of the European partners and materialize the requests made by the Petro government,” he stated. But he has delimited that it is “premature” to establish a position for Spain with respect to the ELN, that it will be studied and that “it will be conditioned” to the dialogue process.
The appearance of Pedro Sánchez together with Gustavo Petro has served for the President of the Government to express himself for the first time regarding the controversy over the Day of the Community of Madrid and the clash with Isabel Díaz Ayuso after not allowing the authorities to go up to the rostrum Minister Félix Bolaños. “We cannot forget that there are minimum rules for coexistence. In a democracy, the rules and public institutions must be respected,” said the chief executive.
The purpose of La Moncloa is not to give wings to the clash with Ayuso, to turn the page on the incident as soon as possible, since they assume that it is a wear and tear on all parties. In this sense, and unlike previous occasions, it has been shown that this face-to-face is avoided to the point that neither Sánchez this Thursday nor the spokeswoman on Wednesday after the Council of Ministers have expressly named the president of the Community of Madrid. Yes, there are messages, but you don’t want to intensify the clash: “The relevant thing is always to respect the rules, because whoever does not respect them loses all reason.” In the Government they are convinced that the regional government failed to comply with the Royal Decree of the General Order of Precedence in the State by not letting Bolaños up, but they have not confirmed whether they will undertake any type of measure.
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