Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego is a Colombian economist, politician, former guerrilla fighter, senator of Italian descent, and the president-elect of Colombia.
Petro defeated Rodolfo Hernández Suárez in the second round of the presidential election on 19 June 2022.
Gustavo Petro Policies
What are Gustavo Petro policies? Prior to the elections, Petro promised profound social and economic change.
Petro’s policies include using green energy over fossil fuels and a decrease in economic inequality.
Petro promised to focus on climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause it by ending fossil fuel exploration in Colombia and also pledged to raise taxes on the wealthiest 4,000 Colombians and said that neoliberalism would ultimately “destroy the country”.
Among the key points of Petro’s restoration program, he proposes an agrarian reform to restore productivity to 15 million hectares of land to end “narco-latifundism”.
This includes a halt to all new oil exploration in order to wean the country off its dependence on the extractive and fossil fuel industries, a plan that has been widely criticized for its fiscal irresponsibility since this sector accounts for over half of Colombia’s export revenues (54.6% as of March 2022).
Again, Petro spoke of development of the rail network; investment in public education and research; tax reform and reform of the largely privatized health system.
Petro announced that his first act as president will be to declare a state of economic emergency to combat widespread hunger.
Petro is advocating progressive proposals on women’s rights and LGBTQ issues.
Petro also stated that he would restore diplomatic relations with Venezuela.