Colombian President Gustavo Petro during his speech at the United Nations 78th General Assembly on Tuesday, September 19, 2023. Photo: Europa Press.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—During his address to the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations, the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, condemned the hypocrisy of Western countries, which today condemn the conflict in Ukraine, but encourage attacks against Palestine. He also stated that the same reasons they use to defend the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, are the same reasons they should be using to defend Palestine.
“They have called on Latin America to supply war machines and soldiers to go to their battlefields,” President Petro said during his speech this Tuesday, September 19. “They forgot their own invasions of our countries several times.” He added that the countries in the Global North forgot that it was for oil that they invaded Iraq, Syria, and Libya.
President Petro at UNGA, criticized inclusion of Cuba on list of state sponsors of terrorism, racist treatment of migrants by the North, and the hypocrisy of condemning the war in Ukraine but not the war in Palestine#petro #UNGA #racism #Migration #Ukraine #Palestina #cuba pic.twitter.com/ebHkfMwtXz
— Orinoco Tribune (@OrinocoTribune) September 20, 2023
The Colombian president also pointed out the racist and white supremacist attacks on migrants from the Global South done by countries in the North, using dogs and law enforcement on horses with whips to chase them.
Their hate for foreigners is so bad that they have built prisons on the sea, “to keep the men and women from the South from setting foot on the land of the whites,” Petro stated, in clear reference to the white supremacist approach clearly seen by the governments in the North that so often talk about human rights but build cages for migrants, prison ships in the North Sea, or let millions of Africans drown in the Mediterranean Sea.
The blockade on Cuba
At the beginning of his speech, President Petro spoke about the unjust blockade against Cuba, condemning the way the former president of Colombia, Iván Duque, encouraged the US government to put Cuba back on its list of countries that sponsor terrorism, all under the guise of “helping Colombia build peace.”
Many analysts noted that Duque, on the question of Cuba and the list of countries that sponsor terrorism, as well as many other sectors, just followed the orders of the US government that was in need of excuses to tighten its unilateral blockade and illegal sanctions against the Cuban people and its Revolution.
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Colombian far-right groups getting desperate
While the clarity and impact of President Petro’s speech was getting more and more evident and was receiving important media attention, far-right actors in Colombia and Latin America took the opportunity to attack and discredit him and his cabinet.
Their first attack was against the character of Miguel Polo Polo, an Afro-Colombian congressman who represents Colombian black communities that was part of the Colombian delegation seated in the main floor of the General Assembly. Their choice of target displayed the clear racist approach typical of far-right groups and their allied media.
Another incident used by these groups to attempt to demerit the statesman speech made by President Petro was the chaos that formed on the main floor of the General Assembly following the speech of President Joe Biden. This had delayed Petro’s speech for a short time and demanded a call to order by the chair of the session, the Trinidadian diplomat Dennis Francis.
It is worth noting that it is a very common United Nations phenomenon that when the president of an important country finishes their speech, there is some level of chaos, as diplomats, media, and delegates make attempts to lobby or reach that president or their delegation. In addition, a recess was announced after Biden’s speech this year, which gave room for a more chaotic environment to grow in the main hall of the General Assembly.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/AU
