 Hi, everyone. Welcome to what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean. CodePings Weekly YouTube program of hot news out of the region. In partnership with Common Frontiers, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action, and Task Force on the Americas, we broadcast weekly at 4.30pm Pacific, 7.30pm Eastern, generally on Wednesdays. We're honored to have our guests join us today, Thursday. We broadcast on CodePings YouTube channel. You can also find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Telegram, and at radindymedia.com. Also, I want to take a minute to introduce you to our new and now six broadcast partner, the Interreligious Task Force on Central America, IRTF Cleveland, which brings together people from the Latin diaspora alongside various grassroots faith and secular communities to act in solidarity with oppressed peoples in southern Mexico, Central America, and Colombia, who conscious raising and direct consumer and political advocacy to build long term structural change. IRTF was formed as a response to the horrific violence of December 2, 1980, when two from Cleveland were murdered in El Salvador, Jean Donovan and Ursula and Ursula and sister Dorothy, Casel, alongside Marinal sisters from New York, Mara, Mara Clark, excuse me, I should know that and either for more info can be found at IRTFCleveland.org. So we welcome them to our family of broadcast partners. So everyone I'm really pleased for this conversation tonight are our episode today is entitled, Gustavo Petro at the United Nations quote, it is time for peace, his words in his general debate on Tuesday, September 20 in New York. In this episode, we will be in conversation with three Colombians living in the North America diaspora about their impressions of the Colombian president's address to the United Nations. Let me tell you who will be talking with this evening and then I want to give you a brief background. So joining us from Toronto, Canada, Raul Berbano, he's executive director of common frontiers, common frontiers is also a WTF broadcast partner, joining us from New York City. I think he is joining us he's live on the subway on his way home is Yamir Chabur, who is with the Troika collective and if he is not with us at the moment, he will join us shortly. And then I want all of you to meet Samantha wary. She is the latest member newest member, most recent member of our code pink Latin America team. She's in Washington DC, and she's Colombian born as well. And so let me give you all a little background and then we can open up our conversation. On Tuesday, September 20, the first day of the United Nations General Assembly, Colombian President Gustavo Petro made his first address to the body. The speech sharply deviated from those of his conservative predecessors. Petro did not shy away from calling out global North countries for their role in the destruction of the environment and in perpetuation of the war on drugs, as a symptom of their capitalist greed. He accused quote, you are only interested in my country to spray poisons on our jungle to take our men to jail and put our women in exclusion. You are not interested in the education of the child, but in killing the jungle and extracting coal and oil from its on trails. The sponge that absorbs the poison, the rainforest is useless they prefer to throw more poisons into the atmosphere. So this was Petro's first trip to the United States since he was inaugurated on August 7. He was received on Sunday night, September 18 by hundreds of supporters in Queens, young year and Samantha were both there. Hundreds of people who showed their support to his administration's commitment to working for peace and ensuing the well being of the Colombian people. So welcome all of you I'm really honored to have this conversation with you. And I think just for the audience. So Samantha was born in Colombia so was Raul raised in Canada and then you're mirror who will be joining us shortly. His parents fled Colombia, and you're mirror was born and raised in New York City. So we have a nice mix of North American Colombian people and opinions. And I would like to ask each of you to start by giving the audience just a brief background of who you are. If you're familiar with your family's plate. And, and then maybe let's start with what part of your president's speech was most impressionable to you, or what part you feel needs further expansion. So, Raul, let's start with you. I see you on the top of my screen so. Perfect. Well, thank you very much for the invite this is exciting great to have a conversation about these important issues, especially around Colombian who stable speech at the United Nations. I mean I was born in Bogota, Colombia came came to Toronto Canada and they live in pretty much in Toronto Canada for most of my life. We love Colombia, not for political reasons or more economic reasons to you know, you know, to get away from the violence and the economic situation and find a you know a better life in the north, quote unquote. So yeah, I mean, you know, I've done a lot of work around Colombia, since, you know, through my work at common frontiers, which is a collective of labor ecumenical and civil society organizations that work on issues related to the Americas. It was kind of common frontiers is like a red like a con like a large table of organizations in Canada that have been doing solidarity with Latin America, you know, the Americas in general, it started with a fight against the free trade agreement sort of the Tri National Canada US Mexico, you know, building an understanding of the impact of the trade back in the 80s. And so we now know pretty clear what it is and when you back then what it was so that's why we were kind of opposed to at least common frontiers was before I was there anyway. So, this is just for the audience. I'll let you should know it was Raul's election observation delegation to Colombia for the first round elections in May that I was supposed to join was part of, and was not allowed to enter the country and so it was Raul that was a help in May to get me back home safely. But this is just really a significant achievement for the Colombian people to have Gustavo Petro as, as your new president you had mentioned to me, I think in May Raul that this is the first time you and your mother living in Canada have been really motivated to actually participate in the electoral process. Yeah, I mean, it was incredible. It was, I mean, I've never voted in the Colombian elections, even though I have the right to from, you know, dual citizenship so this was the first time in my lifetime that I registered to vote in the Colombian elections and it was very exciting. It was really interesting to see the Colombian diaspora in Canada, at least where I was very close to Toronto Montreal, Vancouver, where was really galvanized mobilized quite a lot to protect the vote to try to educate Colombians, and also, you know, people are in Canada around the issues and why it's so important to support a progressive government, and the need for a change in Colombia, I mean, you know, I don't think anybody can disagree that Colombia has been, you know, a bastion of this, you know, disappointments, you know, supportive US foreign policy in the region. And so it's very exciting that, you know, there's finally going to be a break in a change and I think this, you know, the speech at the UN by President Gustavo kind of carry that message along that was very consistent to his, his, his, you know, political campaigning. And so what was it. Was there anything particular in his UN in his UN speech that really resonated with you I mean the speeches a whole was pretty profound. I have to say I was, I was in New York City. And that day that on Tuesday the 20th and, you know, lower Manhattan was just a buzz, particularly around the UN south of Lafayette Street but people were just really excited about what he had to say. So what was the most, what was the most profound part of the speech to you or what made the biggest impression for you. In general, the theme of how he challenged the capitalist development model without saying capitalist development model, you know, capital powers that be as a whole was really important for me kind of as a general theme in terms of the destruction of the environment how it prioritized the criminalization of drugs. You know, the push to war right for me that was, you know, very, very important. It's clear that, you know, that's the speech the discussion, you know, has challenged is basically challenged the prevailing understanding of how to fight that you know the war on drugs which the US has led the war in the international wars in general, you know, I think I really like it was pretty much the end when he said, you know, don't don't push us to take a side on the war, you know, globally referring to Ukraine. And I think that is very telling for, you know, for people in the north who may not understand why many countries are many people in the global south, especially in Latin America would not be so interested and motivated to go and join the war effort, you know, against Russia, not necessarily because they love Russia or not necessarily because they agree with Russia, but because our history has been a history of invasion. So from the US part of proxy governments to destabilize so it's hard to get behind, you know, anything that's often pushed by the US in terms of, you know, supporting democracy and human rights. And for me that kind of at the end that was very important because Gustavo has been very critical of, you know, what he sees is dictatorial governments in Latin America in Nicaragua in Venezuela. And I was surprised to be honest with you that he wasn't this critical, for example, against Putin right and steady took a much more neutral standards as you know we must end the war. We need peace which I thought was really interesting terms of dealing with it so you know I thought that was excellent and I found it quite inspiring. And regarding Venezuela, like within days of his inauguration there was an exchange of ambassadors between Caracas and Bogotá. And on the 26th, September, the border between the two countries which has been closed for five years reopened with great fanfare. I mean immediate. And he gave back the Venezuelan company, right, the fertilizer. Yeah, so I mean he gave that back. Yeah, right, which is incredible. So I mean, you know, his, his, you know, his, I don't want to say his rhetoric but his opinions of Venezuela and Maduro aren't very positive. But it's great that he understands and at least he sees the importance of economic trade between the two countries and having, you know, progressive diplomatic relations which is really refreshing and needed. Maybe I'll just mention one more thing that I thought was very important is sort of his, his call to build like an inter American, inter Latin America kind of process for peace to end the war on drugs. It's a very, you know, it sits quite well with then sort of the select the uniseure kind of themes of, you know, with what the Mexican president, I don't know what was saying where it's just like, basically, you know, we as Latin Americans got to come together and find some solutions to these problems, working together irrespective of our political views right. So, you know, I really like that it kind of reminds me of, you know, that the Bolivarian dream of, you know, you know, a larger, a larger Latin America working together to solve a lot of these issues, which is amazing and it's important for the region and we really need it and hopefully with the elections in Brazil, which most likely will be a positive outcome for Lula, it'll really going to change the dynamics and not America. I think it'll give a lot of momentum and support for Gustavo's policies of creating more of like that inter inter Latin American dialogue around, you know, the environment, the war on drugs, all these very critical issues are protected and saving obviously the Amazon that you know we that is much needed in Latin America. One of, you know, it was it was Alamo at the Salak summit in Mexico City, September 18 of last year gosh a year ago, where they really the focus really was on Latin America Caribbean integration, regardless of domestic politics of each country, respecting the sovereignty of the domestic issues within each country, and informing some sort of regional solution economically health social all of it yeah so yeah it was kind of it was nice to hear Petro reinforce that whole that whole philosophy. I think it's amazing that I mean it obviously resonated with many Canadian Colombians, you know, whether it's Columbia or abroad who supported, you know, Gustavo during the electoral process, but it clearly resonated globally because I think it's the most watch UN speech on YouTube anyways. So, you know, it's been watched quite a lot of time so clearly it's made an impact globally, not just the Colombians, you know, which is great. In New York, it was touted as the best UN general debate in the history of the United Nations, how strongly people were responding to it. It was really fantastic so very exciting. Yeah, Samantha's joining us from Washington DC. And why don't you tell the audience a little bit about yourself, and then let's talk about what you found to be the most significant parts of the President's address. I can say you're president you voted right. Yeah. Yeah, well thank you for inviting me to your show Terry. Yeah, so I was born originally on the outskirts of Medellin, which is the second biggest city. But I grew up in Bogota and then I moved to the States when I was 11 and went back to Columbia after I graduated from college to work with a US based organization co witness for peace solidarity collective. So I was doing a lot of work of human rights, what, yeah, and the organization we call human rights accompaniment. So it was basically working alongside indigenous after Colombian and Cappuccino communities who were doing human rights work but whose lives were at risk. And, you know, as many probably know Columbia is one of the most dangerous country to be a human rights defender or an environmentalist. So that's particular, particularly why that that job is so needed in Columbia, because I have double citizenship, and because I was working with a US based NGO. So my idea was to bring attention to the work that these social leaders were doing on the ground of trying to preserve the environment trying to save the rivers, save the forest as things the president talked about. Exactly. The speech was, you know, it really hit home because, and it made me kind of homesick because I got so used to listening to Colombian environmentalism human rights leaders give speeches like this all the time like in a very poetic way but also with a very clear analysis of power. And understanding that these the war on drugs, the war on the environment are not led by necessarily the Colombian government but by the by the global north. And so, just hearing hearing that speech was just kind of like brought me back to to those moments and being in those rooms in those spaces with these amazing leaders. And the USA and which is the one of the one of the organizations that Francia came from was one of the organizations that we used to work closely with. And, you know, like just that that was kind of an echo of these voices of these leaders. Yeah, so when I was doing that job into in 2018. We brought an environmental leader from the Nadia River which is the in the Pacific coast of when I went through that which is home to the biggest port in Colombia but also the one of the poorest regions in the country. And like the one port where most of the drugs leave Colombia to come to the US. And in her speech she was, when she came to do the speaking tour in the US, she would did she was here to denounce the impacts of the war on drugs. And, and the extractivism projects that were happening and tearing the social fabric and her community. So, it was during the tour it felt like okay like we have all these small groups that we're speaking to but who are we actually who's actually listening who's actually taking action. And hearing Petro basically regurgitate the same ideas and this big platform. And one of the and the most powerful country in the world, and like the cultural city of the world, it was just amazing. At the UN in front of like the most powerful leaders in the world so it kind of just, I don't know it kind of gave like a little closure to, to, to that idea in my head that I had like no one's actually listening. But, you know, what actually given the platform to speak on these issues, a big platform, a lot of people resonated with this message that Petro brought. And as you guys already said like that was one of the most listened speech. Everyone's, you know, start writing articles start analyzing it. But for me and for many Colombians for many Colombian social leaders for many Colombians who participated in the 2019 national strike. Really a new speech because we've heard it so many times before from indigenous communities from Afro Colombian communities and Campesino communities who have been fighting and putting their lives on the line literally because they receive so many threads for the work that they do. Just, you know, that message being echoed was was just really amazing. It was uplifted in front of the entire world. Yeah, was really, it was, it was profound. You know, for this episode I entitled it, Gustavo Petro at the UN, it is time for peace which was a quote in his, his address. And let's talk about peace for a minute because peace in, in, for me when I, you know, listen to his speech, peace has, it has many forms and in many, many spaces right environment, physical war, you know, drugs, and, and capitalism, and the failure of capitalism and how people in the global North use drugs to escape the failure of capitalism that was like amazing. So let's, let's talk about some of these various themes of peace that he was calling for because he is really calling for peace in multiple directions and without all of them, there is no complete peace for the earth and his people. And that's really what I, you know, that was all very profound to me. Somebody in Yamiro who were hoping to join us, I saw him in New York and I asked him what he thought he said, you know, it was almost like, you know, a Garcia Marquez speech, the magical, you know, way of prose and speaking and I thought that was really cool. I think, you know, peace in every form as you said, peace with first stopping the extractivism, right, peace with the earth, right, protecting the earth, you know, peace in terms of decriminalizing or at least regulating, you know, the war on drugs, and moving away from the decriminalization and especially how it clearly articulated how it impacts this, you know, it impacts disproportionately, you know, communities, black communities in the North who are criminalized for this to peace internationally, right, peace, you know, on a global stage. So, you know, he weaved that theme of peace from an international to like a regional and obviously local, you know, in Columbia where, you know, that's been a big component. And he's always, and he's doing it as, you know, a big tent, which is really important. And, you know, he's kind of taking out the ideological bent to it and it's only like, let's come together, you know, irrespective of who we are. And it, you know, it's really interesting and important because I mean, sometimes you want him to be a bit harder, like you want him to say like rally against, you know, the US a bit or something and he put his, you know, you know, you know, Chavez would say like I smell sulfur, you know, here. But he's much more, you know, like much more diplomatic, much more of a statesman and the idea of peace and bringing people together under the big tent, you know, seems to resonate and it seems to, you know, broaden his appeal to many people globally, which I think is important for what needs to be done in the region, right? Because there is, I mean, you know, unfortunately on a global scale that the push is for war, war, war, war. And it's so easily to, you know, as a country to get dragged into that and I guess, you know, Columbia obviously has a history of war internally. So they, you know, we know the cost, the price of war, and clearly Gustavo has made his mission to, you know, bring peace to Columbia but also, you know, extend that to the environment and to globally which which is really incredible. It's amazing. And it's nice to see Columbia taking, you know, a lead in that globally, you know, Columbia has been known as, you know, sort of, you know, so many names that I don't want to get into in terms of how it's been known in the region. The stabilizing, but finally we see Columbia kind of resonating in a very positive way internationally, taking a, you know, trying to take leadership or proposing some really important ideas that, you know, that are critical for our time and yet everybody talks about them but there's very little action around them, which was great. Although I mean I must admit I would have liked to have heard and again and maybe it's just me and he does it so well. You know, you know, pointing fingers a little bit more like the responsibility of the north in saving the planet, you know, needs to be in my opinion I would have liked that to kind of be teased out a bit more because I mean, if Columbia and Latin America are going to save the you know the Amazon or the world like where's the response, you know, are the are we in the north just to continue consuming, right, you know, how is that going to be, you know, we have to have the north with a level of responsibility to help, you know, save the planet as well. Particularly in, you know, diminishing the drug market in the United States and Europe are we by I mean there's no, you know, 90% or more of the market and that has, there was something, and I'm hoping I can share a recording with all of you from one of our guests that was not able to make it tonight and he does a lot of lobbying in Washington DC. And the comments on that Petro made about the use of drugs to escape unhappy lives unhappy societies failing basically you say failing capitalism and you know, people are and destituting themselves. Yeah, with the drugs and to some people on the hill in Washington DC that was interpreted as as Petro saying we need to legalize narcotics. In other countries in such as Portugal that was, you know, was very successful because it took the profitability out of the trade and and diminished the use and then and then legalized what remained and so that was one of the things that was how some people on the hill. I heard his comments about about drug trafficking I found that really, really fascinating, how it gets twisted, or, or how one culture hears it versus another but it is Columbia that is and other countries too but because of the production and the I mean, it's, it's the people and the culture and the fabric of society that's being destroyed by the industry and I would argue that that is one of the things that led to the Revolution in Cuba, was to get prostitution gambling and and drugs off the island and out of the country. And so maybe this is, you know, how you say how it could be interpreted very differently the way they were interpreted in the hill like I think it was Sam Pett of the former president of Columbia, called, you know Gustavo, the great defender of cocaine right like I just see the time like to rail, the whole thought process and not understanding really know the essence of what, what, what he's talking about or getting to. Yeah, and, and the Republicans already. You know, Petros definitely ruffles some feathers. Rubio and Grassley from Iowa already sent to like, oh, like, Petro is like ruining our war on drugs policy that has been so successful and it's just. It is so such a like disconnect from reality and just kind of pushing the same narrative pushing the same failed policies that have never worked here either in the US, or in Columbia. I'm actually pleasantly surprised that Biden has Biden's administration hasn't really made any like strong condemnations of the speech, considering that he was one of the like authors of plan Columbia. So, you know, while he was making policies here to have harsh penalties for consumption and the form of imprisonment he was also sending and pushing for military aid to, you know, stop the flow of these drugs to Columbia. So I mean pleasantly surprised there but I'm sure there will be some, you know, something in the works that will come out later on just like the news of, you know, the Venezuelan plane that was supposed to be inaugurated between Venezuela and Bogota the first airline to fly, I think, since three years ago, and a call from Washington like already stopped that you know so they're they're watching very closely and really It was the Convianza, it was the Convianza plane, the state owned airline that was prohibited because the state airline, the Venezuela state airline Convianza is sanctioned. I mean it's under OFAC regulation and but the private airline the private Venezuelan airline was allowed to enter to fly from Venezuela to Columbia was the state airline which is sanctioned and the criticism of the federal administration is that they yielded, you know, to the US Treasury and OFAC by because Convianza is sanctioned they didn't let the plane, you know, cross the border and come to Bogota. So they, the criticism is they, you know, they yielded to the US State Department and didn't fully open. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's going to be a lot of yielding to US foreign policy pretty soon. What you have to, I mean, I, you know, I can only, you know, talk from the outside, looking in, but, you know, this is a huge change like Honduras is government and after so many years of US control through business and international loans and military, the system. Change is not just going to happen. This was not like a revolutionary change where everybody who didn't agree with the government was thrown out of the country. This was an electoral change, a constitutional change. You, there's a lot and Raul, you and I have had this conversation after the first round elections or I think after the inauguration where, you know, there's a lot to dismantle before the country can move forward. There's a lot of deconstruction that has to be done and I think that we don't talk about that enough. And then building peace and building peace is going to mean the president has to talk to everyone, even people that he doesn't like that party doesn't like that people who voted for him don't like. But unless everyone feels they have a voice or have been heard, how do you build a unified lasting peace. And without that peace, you cannot start building a new country. Absolutely. You want to converse. Go ahead. Yeah, and I think I think Petro has, and his cabinet, he has really, really strong leaders who come from the grassroots movements, which is really awesome to see and organization, organization leaders who have been on the field who have been really remote and rural parts of Columbia, in which the state has never had presence. So, you know, with Petro's project of total peace of, of trying to make amends and try to bring all these different armed groups to the table, I think, you know, it's a really, really big step forward for Columbia, considering that the Duke administration was trying to do everything and its power to completely destroy the peace process that had already been signed with the previous administration, with the Santos administration. So, yeah, I mean, I think in terms of peace and also, I think, you know, a lot of communities would say like peace is not just the absence of conflict but also like the presence of social justice. And so I think he's going to have a really big task of getting to these rural communities that are completely lacking any government institutions that, you know, have to literally take their sick on their back to the hospitals because the roads, like, are nonexistent, there's no ambulances that go all the way to these parts of the country. So I think, I think he does have a plan for that. But obviously four years is not enough, you know, four years is not enough to do all of that building and plus kind of reconcile all of these different groups in the country that are not necessarily in agreement with how he's running things, you know. You know, this is just a personal observation or personal anecdote, you mentioned, you know, the infrastructure people have to carry, you know, injured sick people on their backs walk to a hospital could be days, and the no paved roads and this reminds me of a conversation last year. I was in Columbia during the photo national with delegation out of Argentina. After the delegation was over. We were all kind of debriefing and I was, there were 21 in that delegation 20 Argentinians and me. And they asked me, you know, well, you've been here now for 10 days all over the country observing these human rights violations and, you know, seeing realities on the ground. What do you feel about you as a US citizen, your US tax dollars being spent in this country. What do you see as a, you know, what is your money bought. I mean, you know, my response is quite honestly, misery, misery. There's, there's no public education that's worth mentioning no hospitals no roads no nothing military bases, US tax dollars bought military bases but nothing, nothing for the people. Nothing for the, you know, just day to day people. And it was a profound question and it was it was almost embarrassing, you know, to be ousted, but it, but, you know, it was, they really, they really made their point. Yeah, yeah. So, so hopefully a new relationship they relationship of the United States is it's not possible for that to change overnight. I don't, I don't believe the, I mean, and Samantha you've already caught, you know, commented on Senator Rubio and grassy. What else is happening on the Hill Samantha anything more that you've heard. And you go ahead I'm sorry. Right now in terms of of Columbia I haven't. That's one of the main things that I've heard. Obviously the. What's her Maria Salazar. First. Also just, you know, kind of losing it and making all these lives on her on her social media about like how Duke is going to turn Columbia into an as well as socialist country and like, you know, just like red baiting and, you know, this is very, very typical of these like very far right wing people who are in constant connection and contact with with the elite and the like really racist and wealthy Colombians who who travel back and forth between Columbia Miami have their beach house in Miami and like also their country and Columbia which is, you know, like the those are definitely the ones that are out in the streets I don't know if you guys saw on Monday there was some like anti Petro protest throughout Columbia. And they call themselves like la gente de bien. And somebody went out into the streets to interview them and be like what, what are you for like why are you out here and all they had to say was just all these races and awful things about Francia about, you know, red baiting, talking and like, pretty much any, any bits and pieces that they hear from the right wing media and the senators and in Columbia so the same it's that same right wing rhetoric I mean it's like a, you know, a template right for every country in Latin America the Caribbean they're all the same. And unfortunately it works though, but you know, the unfortunate part is, you know that that misinformation debating the racist. You know, all that tends to work in terms of you know the map that you know the majority of people tend to believe that stuff when it you know when if you're going, and then we saw the referendum in Chile failed right. The first peace process in Columbia dot the peace process but you know voting for for for the for the peace agreement, the first one in Columbia with the other the failed right so then we have to go to a second vote like it. It's interesting how that misinformation line and it's mainly fear like my experiences is you inject fear, they're going to make you a Venezuela they're going to take your house they're going to expropriate your land. Columbia now is going to become the, you know, the big protector of cocaine right like the whole. It's that whole fear that people like oh my God, you know, and unfortunately it sounds ridiculous, maybe toss in the north or kind of watching it from the outside but when you live in the country and you're bombarded by so much of that, and you've been fed a diet, you know, for many decades of misinformation on this people really pick it up and get really scared and then you know if there's any going to be any referendum or anything I think it's going to be challenging, you know, for for for the government for sure. Change is scary, even if you're talking about changing your local PTA for you know changes scary for for for people in general and I don't say that as a criticism it's just changes hard for all for all of us. Thank you so much everyone I want to I want to be sure that our next guest young marriage or has a chance to share with all of you I'm so happy younger that you've been able to join us. This is from Queens, New York. Can you take you need to unmute yourself. Yes, there you go. So here you are. So, you know mirrors with the Troika collective a journalist and he also works with tenant organizing in the Bronx. And I asked him to join us this evening because he is us born to parents from Columbia and he is really politically active. And so you may or why don't you tell the audience a little bit about yourself, and then share with us what the most impressionable part of Petro speech was to you or what or what part you feel needs a little bit more standing upon. Okay, okay cool cool. Thank you Terry for having me I'm so glad to be here. I'm apologize for being late, coming from New York with all this traffic and anything can always happen here in the Big Apple and my grandma son like, like we always say you know, but I'm glad to be here in Queens, and one of the biggest diasporic communities in the United States. Also, in one of the many cities in the diaspora where Petro one, you know New York City, very work working class. I'm a Colombian in the neighborhood of Jackson Heights. But yes, I'm of a Colombian parents. Just to share with the audience. I'm also the son of XM 19 gorilla, my father, and my uncle will also part of M 19, which were the gorilla insurgency that Gustavo Petro was a part of. So, like this victory is very big for my father side of the family. And it was just beautiful that I was able to participate in the August 7 inauguration in the capital of Bogota, and the same energy. The same speech that I felt from Gustavo Petro is the same. It kind of augmented itself in the United Nations, I think a lot of people on the left were blown away, like, they've had a high expectations, and how Gustavo Petro did a very good job of connecting the war on drugs to the climate to the war of resources imperialistic wars of resources worldwide like he didn't shy away from saying certain rhetoric. And I think he blew a lot of people on the left within the United States that criticized him, because he he had rhetoric kind of alluding that Venezuela was a dictatorship, or Nicaragua was a dictatorship, but he kind of flipped those expectations because as soon as he's going into power what has he done, he's opened up relations with Venezuela. He, he abstain, Columbia abstain and the OES will condemning Nicaragua, and also the these these peace talks, now that have been reactivated to Cuba with the ELN. I mean, yeah, he's he's blown people's expectations, even even even my own. And also the fact that like his speech, it kind of was very poetic, like, you know if you understand the Spanish language and all this other stuff. And it reminded me of like the the Colombian writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which is one of his main influences, how he spoke very like beautifully about Columbia, how it's a very magical place like he spoke about like the butterflies like the butterflies right over here that I like this button I got in from his inauguration. These are the butterflies that Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote in many of his beautiful books. But yes, I think he did a very good job of really like like explaining about the problems of capitalism the problems with with imperialism. I just love how he spoke about like how the the war on drugs has caused genocide like he brought that to the forefront how it caused the genocide in his continent, and also just you know that he had he said, he kept saying Uste, like Usteres Usteres like the Usteres like them, were like basically the people of the north like the United States Europe and he didn't have to say the like he didn't have to talk about who was the elephant in the room like the United States knew, knew that he was directing a lot of this stuff towards them like I loved I love when he said that the war on drugs has failed like that was so beautifully like that that kind of really took me back when Hugo Chavez like had that sulfur comment against George Bush, but yeah no it was just it was, it was, it was very I was very proud you know I was like wow this is, this is a beautiful representation we have as Colombian people and how Gustavo how Gustavo Petro is now showing like our greatness as a people like because usually we get this bad narrative of like us being drug dealers because of Pablo Escobar, or us being like a right wing hub for the United States imperialist, but now Petro is showing like our multi culturalism, and also like I will also say like, and I need to mention this, you know because I always like I love always mentioning this man, you know, of Simone Bolivar. I love how you know Petro's speech was very, very Bolivarian, you know, and he spoke about, like, Latin Americans coming together and unifying in order to solve this problem of the war on drugs. But anyways, I know there's more for us to talk about but yes. Oh, and also just like I also talking to like color means here in New York City, talking to people who have been in the forefront of the campaign of Colombia humana. They felt that his speech, like really, really like made the like, like the, the, the Uribeismo, the right wing ideology of the ex president Alvaro Uribe is collapsing slowly on itself and you know the right wing thought that Petro didn't have wouldn't do anything in the United Nations and he blew off expectations against the right wing. And you can even say that he kind of is helping out Lula right now in Brazil, you know with these Sundays elections, because he blew out Bolsonaro out of the water as well. So, you know with the whole climate crisis because of the Amazon. But yeah, that's all I have to say right now. So there's a couple things I want to ask you. So first of all just going back to a comment. You made Samantha, the former president of Columbia Duque has a, it has a job with a Washington DC think tank. So, you know you can just see how, you know, everybody washes each other's hands. And now the presidency and Columbia represent United States he now has a Washington DC think tank job for Samantha and you, you know, you were both in Queens on Sunday, September 18 at the rally with Gustavo Petro. Can you just briefly share with the audience what that was like, and then your mirror in closing I wonder if you will share with us what since you mentioned Simone Bolivar you were at Plaza Bolivar in Bogota for the inauguration on 7 August, what it was meant what it was like to see Simone Bolivar sword return to the Plaza, but let's talk about September for 18 or real quick. Since you were both there. Sure. So I went from DC directly to the event so I had like my backpack and I had like my overnight stuff with me. People were there waiting for hours and, you know, just chanting Petro Francia, and like si se pudo like we did it. And just, it was amazing because I've never been in the US and in a space like that to receive. And I was like a resident or like someone that I really admire with a bunch of other Colombians who are also living in the US. So it was really, really beautiful and people were, you know, when he came out he did come out a little bit later than I think was anticipated but like people right away like all their energy was up again like everyone was shouting his name, his speech was beautiful just you know every. He's just a really, really great speaker he like the thought the weight and every one of his words is just really something that he definitely contemplates and really thinks through before giving these speeches and you know I think in that way he was connecting to the migration story and kind of the struggles that people have to go through when they have to leave their country and so you know he was in a way sending a message that we want to make Colombia a country where you can return and come back again you know that you don't have to flee from. And that's especially relevant now because there's a huge amount of Colombians, Colombians I think are like the top like fifth or sixth nationality they're coming up through the border. You know the conditions in Colombia are not the greatest they were even worse before Pedro came into power. But he made that promise that we will make Colombia a place for you to return for a place where you don't have to flee from. It was it was really great to be there and also like there was so many artists that came and played folkloric music and dance and. Yeah, it kind of made me a little homesick but it was great. How about you, you're here briefly briefly on the on the September 18 and then we want to hear how you felt when you saw the sword return to the closet. So just to explain my experience that day let me just show you this badge right here. I was volunteering for the Council it I had that you know I felt the whole experience from eight hours being in front of the courthouses. I'm going to say it was a very long day, setting stuff up, working with the folks from the Council it that you know to also give context, the folks in the Council it are in a process of changing because they're still right wing, but they still had to obey orders from from the president. So I had to know how to maneuver through that. It was very, very, very interesting. But I remember when the crowd started coming out. Yeah, they were yelling now you know for Petro, but then they started booing the people of the Council it because the Council in New York City is just horrible I mean I mean right now it's going to go through some changes but I'm just saying as somebody from as a Colombian from New York City. I've had a horrible experience with that Council it I'm trying to get my dual citizenship, and I hope under Gustavo Petro, I'm going to get that doing citizenship. Um, but anyways they they started yelling out like you know afuera or you know out with all these Uri Vistas or they even thought I was with them you know because I was I was volunteering and I had to show I had to show my my badge right here, you know what I mean like to show that I'm on their side. But it was, I'm a butterfly. I'm a butterfly. I'm a socialist bolivarian butterfly. Um, so, so, um, yeah no no like the we were we were in the whole day for Petro I mean he came even after when the event was supposedly supposed to be over it was from five to eight, he arrived at eight o'clock. He gave a very powerful speech acknowledging the diaspora, the migrants, you know, he spoke about the importance of the migrants towards the Colombian economy as far as sending reminiscence back home money reminiscences. It kind of reminded me of a little bit of Raphael Correa with the Ecuadorian community here in New York City which is big as well about how he really focused on the importance of the migrants. He spoke about that he spoke about it was kind of like a pre kind of excerpt of his what he was going to say in the UN about the war on drugs, and then he closed out and like met everybody's expectation when he announced that he would have the first indigenous foreign minister from Santa Marta from the Sierra Nevada, be part of the council in New York City, the first indigenous foreign minister in the council in New York City. So it was a very powerful speech that Gustavo Petro gave, and then after, you know, he went out of his way with guards, you know he had guards all around him but he went out of his way to say hi to people, you know, you know, shake people's hands, and I had the opportunity, you know, to see Gustavo Petro come close to me because I was carrying my M19 flag, which I bought in the inauguration, La Plaza de Boliva. You know, so it was and I was around X 19 ex combatants here in New York City so it was just a very powerful night it felt like, you know, like a new awakening new you know this, this this new awakening once again in Latin America, but also to describe, and also, just also personally, um, that that was also a powerful moment for me because the in front of the courthouse is where my parents also got married, like, like when I was little too so it kind of took me back to it kind of went full circle for me, but Yes, yes, as a as a Queens Columbian, but so going to the inauguration. Yes, it was very powerful just to be part of that inauguration and to see like it was just packed you see I felt like all parts of Columbia came from all over to go see that historic inauguration of Gustavo Petro in a Francia Marquez, and I was very happy that I was able to participate in that inauguration with my father, who was an ex combatant of the M19 movement, who went to prison, and was in prison with the commandante of theirs Carlos Pizarro. Um, so it was very it was very moving and just I remember being there and like being on top of like the Palace of Justice La Palacio de Justicia, which is right in front of La Palacio is right across La Palacio de Nariño, which historically that palace was assaulted by Gustavo Petro's M19 movement like decades ago. Um, and I was with the youth of them 19 as well you know shouting out you know do get do get child do get child child child I've never seen a person like been like getting kicked out the way he was getting kicked out. But I remember when I was when when Petro and also like before I get into like when Petro brought out the sort of Boliva because there's a lot to unpack there. I mean, when he was given the presidential slash like the person who put the presidential slash on him was was a very big thing that kind of broke protocols from like regular protocols of presidential inaugurations where it's supposed to be somebody in parliament to put on the slash he he allowed the daughter of his commander of his of his commandante Carlos Pizarro that she's a senator named Maria Jose de Pizarro to put the presidential slash on him. And like my my father was in tears like my everybody in M19 was in tears when they saw something like that because it's like, you know you saw the legacy of Pizarro alive in the in the in the in the Plaza. And just though when when he put on the slash and his first order as president was that to fetch the sort of Bolivar that this isn't this is a popular order. This is an order from the popular masses and the soldiers in order to do because I did at that moment, like they were told by Duque that the sword was incoming to the inauguration this is the last attempt for Duque to try to try to one up Petro but Petro said that the sword was coming to the inauguration, and I make this joke, because I was there but I didn't know what was going on, because there was a 10 minute recess to bring the sword to the inauguration. And I was just like, when when I heard about what happened and when I was seeing the sword coming and people yelling out, alert, alert, alert, okay, come in a spy or bolivar for America Latina. I was like blown away. And I and I realized at that moment I was like, yo I can imagine Venezuela and Twitter blowing up, like all those, all those things, all that resentment that they had against Petro because Petro said, oh, Maduro might be this, it all went out the window, and they started hashtagging Bolivar Viva, even Maduro, Maduro got over it too because he, he made a video demonstrating how he was watching the sword being brought to the Plaza of Boliva. So, and there was an impressive speech that Petro gave on the sword, like he referenced the sword various times in his speech, talking about how the sword is very important to our culture to our people. And it's like, like, also when the sword was being brought, I found it funny too, that all the heads of states were got up, but the only one that didn't get up was the King of Spain. And for our audience, just so the audience understands it was that sword that liberated what is today Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Bolivia from the Spanish Empire. Also to add on to that side, sorry, just really quickly, this is important too, because that same sword was the sword that was, that kind of was robbed, no, was kind of, was robbed by Gustavo Petro's M19 movement. It was, it was a way of M19 to kind of expropriate the sword and for the, for the people, you know, they were saying they were taking back the sword for, for the people and that sword went all over Latin America and went to Panama and went to Cuba. It went all over Central America, then it came, it came back to, to Colombia in the 90s after they, they signed the peace deal with the Colombian oligarchy. And this is kind of like three months before the, and I didn't even mention this either when the, the commander Carlos Pizarro was assassinated while he was running for the presidency of Colombia. So that sort of also brought full circle when you also think about that history that it has when Gustavo Petros M19 movement. But anyways, he spoke about, yeah, like how that sword was, was important and how it symbolized like our people's liberation and also talking like this sense of integration, like, like unification of the continent. So, and I felt like at that moment we spoke about this Terry, that is kind of like Bolívar once, once more came back was resurrected. And you know, it wasn't just the death of Uribeismo but also of Santa Diarrismo as well. Yeah. And the Uribeismo, you know, the oligarchy, that's one, Bogotá, Colombia for 200 years. I know Simone Bolívar has returned. They are done for being phased out, maybe is that. So listen, all of you, we've been talking for an hour. I don't, I don't, I don't want to end this conversation. It's so, it's so beautiful to hear all of you share your words and your feelings and your interpretations. Is there anything, maybe Raul, you want to make a closing statement? Yeah, I guess maybe just to follow on what we were just talking about it seems like you know it's been 20 years or so since the Bolívarian Revolution. We're kind of seeing a little bit of that sort of comeback kind of full circle where you know Latin America integration is clearly going to become a much more important concept in the Americas with hopefully with the Lula's election in Brazil. I mentioned with what Almo's doing in Mexico City in terms of reviving and bringing back Zalac and Unasur. So I think we're in for really exciting times in Latin America in terms of changes whatever pink tie whatever socialist social democrats. I do think what that's going to bring is it's going to bring like it did, you know, 20 some odd years ago is is sort of the US again foreign policy becoming much tougher on Columbia, obviously Columbia is going to become, you know, a sore thumb, you know, in a sore kind of component for the free trade agreements and we'll see a lot more of that just the way as was mentioned on this meeting that the conviasse of playing could not land in Columbia. I think we're going to start seeing a lot more of that legalistic kind of time. Gustavo's hands behind his back in terms of free trade agreements if we're going to stop extractivism, you're going to have to look quite closely into those free trade agreements to see what you can and can't do. Anyway, anyways, so it's going to be interesting time in Latin America, lots of positive going on, but I do think we're going to start seeing much more US involvement and intervention in the region like we did 20 some odd years ago with with the Bolivarian Revolution. Thank you everyone. Really, what, what a fantastic conversation and I'm so thankful all of you were available to join this episode. I want to remind the audience that you've been watching what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean code teams weekly YouTube program of hot news out of the region we broadcast generally every Wednesday evening 730pm Eastern we're thankful to have our guests join us tonight. Thursday at 730pm, you can watch us on code pink YouTube live you can also find us on Apple podcast Spotify and telegram and also at red in media.com. Also be sure to catch code pink radio, which broadcast every Thursday morning 11am Eastern on WBA I can work city WPFW out of Washington DC, and that program can also be found on Spotify and Apple podcast. So be sure to join us. Next week everyone and again, thank you to our four of us for all Burbank also not the weary and your marriage of work. I hope to have you all back as we as the Petro administration unfolds in Columbia and watch all these possibilities. Hopefully become reality for you and your country. So thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.