(CNN Spanish) — At their first meeting together at the White House, Colombian President Gustavo Petro will lead a broad agenda that he will discuss with his US counterpart Joe Biden on issues such as climate change, regional security and sanctions on Venezuela.
The agenda, which can be described as ambitious given the number of issues, will present some key challenges for both Petro, who will visit several cities across the United States, and Biden, who will have to address some demands on controversial issues such as migration, the fight against drug trafficking, climate change, as well as the opportunity to talk about a hot topic in the region: the demand for the lifting of sanctions against Venezuela, which Petro has been talking about since his first days in the country.
Petro’s agenda is diverse. The White House and the Colombian Presidency identified climate change, the fight against drug trafficking, the regional migration challenge and the promotion of “democratic values” as some common themes for this meeting.
peace and security
Commitment to his Total Peace program, with which he wants to negotiate with illegal armed groups, will be one of the great challenges in the United States.
“Certainly the meeting with President Biden, from which I have some expectations that I would say have to do with peace; with peace throughout the Americas,” Petro said before leaving for the United States.
The “total peace” Petro speaks of has two basic ingredients: firstly, the implementation of the peace accords signed in 2016 with the extinct FARC guerrillas, and secondly, the Petro government’s commitment to negotiations with remaining groups such as the ELN and the FARC dissidents and the subjugation of criminal gangs that run the multi-million dollar drug trafficking business not only in Colombia but with ramifications in the region.
“Both countries should discuss how to increase their efforts to consolidate this agreement,” wrote Gimena Sánchez, a researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America, WOLA, in an analysis of Petro’s visit to the United States on the peace deal with the FARC. .UU.. this week.
Sánchez added in an email to CNN that “the US can continue to support peace by appointing an envoy who can oversee implementation and help with the other peace processes.”
Petro has recognized that the issue of peace is critical not only to Biden, but also to U.S. lawmakers, with whom he will hold meetings in both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House International Affairs Committee. This meeting will be part of lobbying to maintain US support in the fight against drug trafficking in the country, as well as economic aid to address the region’s massive migration.
“The US has to pass the aid package in Congress by 2024, especially anything that consolidates the peace,” Sánchez added. “The US can further support the peace by appointing an envoy who can follow the implementation and help with the other processes,” added the WOLA expert.
But the high level of violence, which does not stop at social leaders, and excessive violence from armed groups such as the ELN, with which Petro is now negotiating his demobilization, could stand in the way of the President’s intentions.
“Regarding the security situation in Latin America, Petro has very little to contribute to the discussion given the very serious law and order situation in Colombia under his tenure,” said Daniel Raisbeck, Latin America policy analyst at the Washington-based Cato Institute.
“With the increase in massacres and other human rights violations, the ELN’s constant attacks on public forces, and the new rise of FARC ‘dissidents’, among other armed groups, Petro is for a major setback in terms of citizen security in Colombia.” .
On allegations that violence has increased during your government, Peter said that “all the armed groups that create violence today were created after the Santos peace process and in the Duque government. No group was formed in my government. We want them to stop their actions.”
Finally, another key theme will be Petro’s commitment to the paradigm shift in the fight against drug trafficking, which he believes the world has lost. That question can raise doubts, especially in Congress, where, according to researcher Sánchez, “some don’t understand the new strategy and are concerned that (the fight against) drug trafficking is ignoring it. That puts pressure on Biden.”
“Biden’s drug policy changes are consistent with Petro’s, but it is important that the Colombian government better communicates its efforts, such as attacking drug trafficking routes where they have been successful,” he added.
The Venezuelan theme
No doubt Venezuela will be a critical issue at the Biden-Petro meeting, with Petro calling for Venezuela’s reintegration into the Inter-American human rights system and calling Venezuela a “peace ally” of Colombia.
“It seems to me to be an instrument that needs to be strengthened across the continent, it is the right way. This means that the Venezuelan people are free to decide their immediate future without pressure,” said CNN’s Petro Yilber Vega upon his arrival in Nueva York this week.
This Petro support for Venezuela could face “skepticism” in the United States government, John Feeley, former US ambassador to Panama, told CNN.
“I think Gustavo Petro will have a skeptical Joe Biden when he comes in and demands that Joe Biden declare with a magic wand tomorrow that everything is fine with Venezuela,” Feely said of Petro’s proposal to lift sanctions. “All is not well with Venezuela.”
“I believe that Biden, as a good chess player, will continue to assess the situation by incorporating into his calculation the information that Gustavo Petro can offer him as Nicolás Maduro’s most frequent interlocutor,” added Feely on CNN.
Petro also called an international summit on Venezuela, which he said would be attended by European foreign ministers, representatives from the United States and several Latin American governments. The aim of the summit is to “unlock the negotiations led by Venezuela, the United States, Mexico and Norway with one goal: that there will be no sanctions, that there will be much more democracy. More democracy, zero sanctions is the goal,” said the Colombian President from New York.
But here, too, the United States has a firm position: free elections, setting up an election calendar and inviting international observers.
“The steps are very clear, it’s not a regime change strategy, no,” said Juan González, the US President’s senior adviser on Latin America.
“These are things that one would ask of any person, such as the basic principles of a free choice,” González told an EFE forum on Latin America this Wednesday.
The Biden-Petro meeting will take place on April 20 at the White House.
— With reports from CNN’s Carolina Melo.