President Gustavo Petro will begin his second tour of the United States this Sunday since he became president and that, for the moment, includes stops in San Francisco, New York and possibly Washington.
According to official sources, The president’s agenda is scheduled between April 16 and 21 and his first stop will be in New York, where on Monday he will attend the installation of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) which this year, in its twenty-second edition, will focus on “Indigenous Peoples, human health , planetary and territorial health and climate change: a rights-based approach”.
From there the president will fly to the outskirts of San Francisco, where his participation on Tuesday in a forum organized by Stanford University on the environment and social justice in Latin America is confirmed. The event is part of the program of the University’s Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.
According to the Center, the Colombian president will speak about the challenges posed by climate change and other dynamics in present-day societies and, later, he will hold a conversation with Alberto Díaz-Cayeros, director and principal investigator at this institution.
The president is expected to have meetings in both cities with members of the Colombian community but the details have not yet been confirmed.
(Also read: “We are getting closer,” say the US and Colombia after the end of high-level talks)
Possible meeting with Biden?
Given that the president’s return is only until Friday, there is much speculation about a stop in Washington starting on Wednesday and his possible meeting with President Joe Biden and members of Congress of this country.
Since he arrived at Nariño’s house, Petro has made it clear in his conversations with officials in this country that he is very interested in meeting with Biden but to date the meeting had not materialized.
Although Biden called the Colombian president as soon as his victory in the elections was confirmed and he has sent several high-level delegations to the country to connect with the leftist leader, a bilateral agreement has not yet been reached between the two. A meeting that was close in September of last year during the United Nations General Assembly in New York but that could not take place either.
(Furthermore: US Senator asks Colombia to comply with commitments in the fight against drugs)
If materialized, would be under the figure of an invitation to the White House for a work visit.
Until now, only the presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of Brazil, Alberto Fernández, of Argentina, and Andrés Obrado, of Mexico, have been invited to the Oval Office.
The US president also held bilateral talks with some presidents, including Gabriel Boric, from Chile, during the Summit of the Americas held last year in Los Angeles.
Given the close relationship that exists between the United States and Colombia, the invitation of new Colombian leaders to the White House is usually given quickly and, generally, in the first months of his term.
In 1998, Andrés Pastrana had a state visit to Washington two months after taking office.
(Keep reading: ‘Gustavo Petro’s anti-drug plan is not very realistic’: William Brownfield)
In the case of Álvaro Uribe, only a month and a half passed before President George W. Bush invited him to his office (September 2002).
Barack Obama, after his victory in the 2008 presidential elections, had his bilateral with Uribe in June 2009, five months after taking office.
In the case of Juan Manuel Santos, he met with Obama in September 2010 -the year of his first election- during the UN General Assembly in New York and then invited him to the White House in April of the following year.
In the case of Iván Duque, he met Donald Trump for the first time during a bilateral meeting at the UN in September 2018 – the year of his election – and then he was invited to the White House for a working visit in February 2019.
But it has not always been so. Duke, for example, it took more than a year to receive Biden’s invitation to visit the White House (March of last year). Although the two countries maintained close ties during the two years that these two presidents coincided -and Biden granted Colombia the status of Extra NATO Ally during this period-, relations started a bit strained given the support offered by members of the Democratic Center to the Trump’s candidacy -Biden’s rival- and that many saw as an intervention in politics.
(You can read: Is Colombia losing its special status with the United States?)
In Petro’s case, the seven months that have passed without receiving his call to the Oval Office have begun to spark some rumors on distancing given Petro’s positions on issues that are key to the US, such as the fight against drugs. Rumors that, of course, would stop if a meeting between the two is confirmed for next week.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON
On Twitter: @sergom68
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