Colombia’s political leaders from the left to the right welcomed the arrival of US President Joe Biden to the White House on Wednesday.
Far-right former President Alvaro Uribe said he wished “all the best to the United States” and President Ivan Duque’s American counterpart.
Leading opposition Senator Gustavo Petro praised Biden’s decision to revoke Trump’s decision to abandon the Paris Agreement to combat climate change as part of a “major agreement with American progressives.”
Former President Juan Manuel Santos, who was in office when the US president was serving as former President Barack Obama’s VP, said “the world needs him.”
The political party of demobilized FARC guerrillas said it hoped Biden will “support the implementation of Colombia’s peace deal and support talks with the ELN,” the country’s last-standing guerrilla group.
Former Vice-President Humberto de la Calle, who bartered peace with the FARC, praised the US president’s call to “overcome irrational confrontation without stifling dissent.”
“An appropriate intervention for Colombia,” said De la Calle, who has become one of the country’s most prominent peace advocates.
Presidential hopeful Sergio Fajardo said “the beginning of the Biden administration is a great relief for the world, a revindication of democracy and of decency.”