Gustavo Petro, a former member of Colombia’s M-19 guerrilla group and now the country’s first leftist president, is willing to start peace talks with armed groups across the country and has called on the United States and other developed nations to change drug policies that have focused on the prohibition of substances like cocaine, feeding violent conflicts across Colombia and other Latin American nations, reports The Guardian.
He has also said he would like to work with Washington “as equals,” building schemes to combat climate change or bring infrastructure to rural areas where many farmers say coca leaves are the only viable crop. While a 2016 peace deal between Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia turned the focus of voters away from the violent conflicts playing out in rural areas and gave prominence to problems like poverty and corruption, smaller rebel groups like the National Liberation Army and the Gulf Clan continue to fight over drug trafficking routes, illegal goldmines and other resources abandoned by the FARC.