MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Petro suggests “life guarantees” for losers of Venezuela's elections

It was the third one-on-one gathering between Lula and Petro

During a meeting in Bogotá with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Colombian President Gustavo Petro Wednesday suggested that a so-called “life guarantee” be created in Venezuela for those losing the July 28 elections under world scrutiny over transparency concerns, Agencia Brasil reported.

“[The proposal] has to do with the possibility of a plebiscite in the upcoming elections, which guarantees a democratic pact, which guarantees for whoever loses, the certainty and security about their life, their rights and the political guarantees that any human being should have in their country,” Petro told newspeople during a joint press briefing.

Asked about the Venezuelan elections, Lulla replied that “I can tell you that, if it depends on Colombia and Brazil, this continent will continue to be a zone of peace. Because only peace brings progress, war brings death and destruction and that doesn't interest us.”

Earlier Wednesday, Lula and Petro took part in the Brazil-Colombia Business Forum. Also, they held a bilateral meeting at the Palacio de Nariño during which a series of agreements in areas such as trade, communications, agrarian development, and human rights were signed.

According to Petro, both leaders also reviewed the ongoing crisis in Haiti. “Brazil and Colombia want to participate in a peaceful solution to the Haitian problem. Colombia, through its illicit economies, has, as we all know, attacked the Republic of Haiti in various ways and partly bears some responsibility for the destabilization of our sister republic, our neighbor to the north. And we want to support a way forward that we would like to build with the Federative Republic of Brazil,” said Colombia's first-ever leftwing head of state.

The two presidents also discussed a sustainable economy for the Amazon jungle, which “has been more a scenario of estrangement than articulation and union, and it can't continue to be that way. We want to advance police, military, social and economic agreements that all tend to preserve one of the three climatic pillars of planet Earth, without which this city [Bogotá] would not exist,” Petro explained regarding the supply of fresh water the rainforest allows. The Colombian capital is currently experiencing a water crisis, with a shortage of water for the population.

In his speech before the forum of Brazilian and Colombian businesspeople, Lula defended a strategic partnership between the two countries and spoke of tripling trade flows. He also mentioned the new global scenario in which countries with great biodiversity have a historic opportunity. “If you want to discuss the wealth of biodiversity, if you want to discuss the wealth of water concentration, if you want to discuss the wealth of the energy transition, if you want to discuss the transition of the future, the decarbonization of the world, whoever looks at the world will have to look at South America, and whoever looks at South America cannot fail to see Colombia and Brazil.”

Lula also instructed Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira to discuss with the Colombian government ways of reducing bureaucracy and facilitating trade, business, and cultural, scientific, and technological exchanges between the two countries. “The reactivation of the Bilateral Trade Monitoring Commission will be key to eliminating obstacles. The creation of a binational council between the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry and the Colombian National Business Association is a further step in this direction. We signed agreements that will boost bilateral cooperation in the areas of tourism, trade promotion, health, agrarian development, communications, and connectivity,” Lula stressed.

It was the third meeting between Lula and Petro, who went to Brasilia in May last year, during a summit of South American presidents. They also held one-on-one talks in Leticia, a city in the Colombian Amazon on the border between the two countries, during a forum on sustainable forest development.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)