8/7/22
Today, Sunday August 7th, is president-elect Gustavo Petro's inauguration. All presidents in Colombia are inaugurated on August 7th as this day commemorates the battle of Boyacá, an event that marked an important step towards Colombian independence from Spain.
Today's issue of El Tiempo, on my host family's dining table
Petro is Colombia's first left-wing president: he was elected in an extremely tight race between two candidates at opposite ends of the political spectrum. As an ex-guerilla member (Petro was part of the insurgent group M-19), many people – especially older generations who lived though the worst of the war – are worried about his presidency and what it would mean for the country. Much of the base that elected him consisted of young people in their 20s and 30s, who have little memory of the more difficult moments of Colombia's internal armed conflict.
Petro's vice president is Francia Márquez, a social activist and afrodescendant woman who grew up in poverty on the pacific coast of Colombia – a region with a high concentration of afrodescendant people. Márquez will be the second woman to assume the position of vice president in Colombia, and the first afrodescendant person to hold the post. Her assumption of power marks an important step forward in representation of afrodescendant Colombian in politics – a demographic group that has often been discriminated against and overlooked throughout Colombian history.
I'm watching the inauguration in my host family's house, from an extremely comfortable bed upstairs.
Stuffed animal-laden seating arrangement – ideal for 3-hour-long inauguration
Leading up to the event, the channel showed footage of different foreign leaders who are arriving to attend the event. Gabriel Boric of Chile – another left-wing president who came to power under similar of circumstances of prior social unrest and two extreme candidates in the final round of elections. Just as I arrived in Bogotá to conduct field work the week after Petro's election, I arrived in Santiago last January during the week following Boric's election. While I studied abroad in Chile during winter quarter, Boric lived two doors down from the Stanford in Santiago campus – so I would routinely see journalists and citizens crowded around the fence to his residence on my way to and from the campus – and while I would walk to a nearby mom-and-pop café in the late morning to buy a cup of coffee to fuel the rest of my studying that day.
Other political figures attending the inauguration included the presidents of Argentina, as well as Felipe IV of Spain, who the commentators mentioned has attended several presidential inaugurations. If I remember correctly, he also attended the inauguration of Chilean president Gabriel Boric, which I watched from my host family's apartment on March 11th while in Santiago for winter quarter. My eyes were peeled when the TV then showed footage of a plane with the painted lettering "United States of America." I wondered, is Biden coming to the ceremony for Petro? I thought likely not, as I would have read about it if so. When they showed the plane door open, the official who walked out was none other than Samantha Power! I was pleasantly surprised that she, out of all the officials they could have sent, was coming to Colombia to witness this transfer of power. Samantha Power is the director fo USAID, and former US ambassador to the UN (in addition to being a Pulitzer Prize-winning author). While she has made some mistakes in her foreign policy advice – notably with her support of conducting airstrikes in Libya in 2011 [1], she is someone I look up to for her consistency in making decisions that are guided my what she believes is right. Among women in politics, she is also someone I admire for her unabashed intellectualism – and she's someone I can relate to around her lack of focus on fashion or makeup; which makes her come across to me as especially grounded and relatable.
Samantha Power arrives at the inaugural ceremony
The ceremony was signed to reduce elitism and to be "of the people and for the people." To that effect, Petro and his wife walked to the inaugural stage on the street instead of on a red carpet; and they conducted the ceremony in front of a Plaza full of people, rather than in a private, closed venue as is often done.
No red carpet for Petro
Inaugural ceremony occurs before masses gathered in Plaza Simón Bolívar
Throughout the ceremony my host mom seemed very skeptical of what Petro said and did. When Francia Márquez swore her oath into office as vice president, she commented that she would not only serve the constitution before God and the people, but that she would also do so "ante mis ancestros y ancestras [before her ancestors (both male and female)]", and that she would work for Colombians who have been historically excluded, "hasta que la dignidad se vuelve en costumbre [until dignity becomes habit/custom]" I teared up after that last phrase – finding it very powerful. My host mom had been out of the room for that part, and when she came back in my host sister described that Márquez had said something "muy lindo" about honoring her "ancestros y ancestras." My host mom commented that it was so unnecessary for Márquez to say ancestras: "it's not a word!" This difference of opinion on gender-inclusive language – and perhaps on attitudes toward the entering government more broadly – seemed emblematic of the generational divides behind the last election.
Francia Márquez is sworn in as vice president
One point of controversy was the turning of a sword, "La Espada de Simón Bolívar," an old weapon that presumably belonged to the man who famously liberated Colombia from Spanish rule. Petro had requested for the sword to be at the ceremony, but Duque – the then-incumbent president – had denied Petro's request for its release from the presidential palace, El Nariño. Duque denied Petro's wish to be inaugurated in the presence of this symbol because of the latter's involvement in his youth with the armed group M-19 – an insurgent group that had stolen the sword from the Quinta de Bolívar museum in 1974 to use it as a symbol of their movement. The group returned the sword in 1990 when signing a peace agreement [2]. The drama began when during the inaugural ceremony, after he had been officially sworn in as president, Petro requested that the sword be retrieved from the presidential palace and brought to the stage. Because he was now officially commander-in-chief, the military followed through on his orders – with Duque unable to block the request this second time around. The ceremony was paused 18 minutes while the sword was retrieved.
Sword is transported from the presidential palace to the inaugural stage
During the ceremony they showed a montage that seemed to serve as a celebration of Colombian culture and national identity (linked here). It was interesting to see which images were chosen to depict Colombian national identity: people of many different races, beautiful coastal landscapes, colonial architecture and ornate churches, fruits and agriculture, elaborate dances and associated costumes, successful athletes, music (classical, traditional, and pop), engineering feats, an image of an LBGT pride parade, biodiversity, chocolate, and coffee. They later showed another more sobering montage (linked here) – a photographic project titled Colombia: más allá de la memoria [Colombia: Beyond Memory]. This photography project focused on the tragedy of the guerilla – it showed various photos of guns, guerilleros, and the pain of violence. I've included some of the photos I found most striking below; the series of photos ended with an image of the silhouetted doves flying into the sky.
Perhaps most interestingly to me, Petro mentioned that he would be creating a new "Ministerio de Equidad [Ministry of Equity]" that will be headed by Francia Márquez. As of 2022, Colombia is the 12th most unequal country in the world, and the second or third most unequal in Latin America. [3] I'm really curious to see what new projects or initiatives this ministry takes up.
Petro's family on the steps of the presidential palace
While there is a lot of uncertainty around Petro's election, I find hope in the fact that he and Francia Márquez seem to have on the front of their agenda the goal of reducing poverty and inequality.
The full recording of Petro's inauguration can be accessed here.
References
EN VIVO: Toma de Posesión de Gustavo Petro En Colombia. www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la-UfCn53ng. Accessed 8 Aug. 2022.
[1] Filkins, Dexter. 2019. “The Moral Logic of Humanitarian Intervention.” The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/16/the-moral-logic-of-humanitarian-intervention (August 7, 2022).
[2] Bonilla, Santiago Torrado, Catalina Oquendo, Sally Palomino, Juan Miguel Hernández. “De la espada de Bolívar a la fuerza afro de Francia Márquez: las escenas que marcaron la posesión de Gustavo Petro.” El País América Colombia, 8 Aug. 2022, https://elpais.com/america-colombia/2022-08-08/de-la-espada-de-bolivar-a-la-fuerza-afro-de-francia-marquez-las-escenas-que-marcaron-la-posesion-de-gustavo-petro.html.
[3] Wealth Inequality by Country 2022. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/wealth-inequality-by-country. Accessed 8 Aug. 2022.
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