Gustavo Petro, who was inaugurated as the first left-wing President of Colombia on Sunday, has said there needs to be a rethink on how the world combats the scourge of illegal drugs.
Speaking at his inauguration, Petro said that the ‘war on drugs’ had been a ‘failure’.
Colombia produces about half of the world’s cocaine, and the production and trafficking of the drug helps fund a large number of criminal gangs and anti-government militias in the country.
Regarding the war on drugs, Petro said: ‘It has left a million dead Latin Americans during 40 years, and it leaves 70 000 North Americans dead by overdose each year.’
Investors have been watching Petro nervously, as he came to power on a radical economic platform. However his initial cabinet appointments show he is likely to follow something of a centrist path and work with the Colombian political establishment to reform the country.
[Image: Otra Voz TV, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=120648290]