2023-04-22 23:06:37
President Gustavo Petro and his US counterpart Joe Biden finally met this Thursday in the White House.
After a series of failed (more informal) meetings, such as the one that did not take place at the dinner offered by the Bidens after the UN General Assembly in September of last year in New York because Petro got stuck in the city traffic, Finally, the two leaders shook hands and outlined the road map of what the relationship between the two countries will be in the coming years.
One day after the meeting and upon his return to Colombia, Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva wrote, As a balance, a message on his Twitter account about the meeting between the two leaders in which he assured that Biden had told Petro “you are the cornerstone” of the hemisphere, an expression that made him proud to be part of the current government.
“’You are the cornerstone,’ President Biden tells President Petro. Colombia flies very high. I am honored to be Chancellor of those who make a difference in moments of planetary definitions. In the world we began to be a model of new developments. Homeland wakes up ”, wrote the chancellor on the social network.
The message did not go unnoticed and ended up being criticized by hundreds of users on Twitter because, the day before and minutes after the meeting ended, Joe Biden shared a post on his official account @POTUS, in which he referred to Colombia as the “cornerstone” and not President Gustavo Gustavo, as stated by Foreign Minister Leyva.
“It was a pleasure to welcome President Gustavo Petro to the White House. Colombia is the cornerstone of our shared efforts to build a more prosperous hemisphere, egalitarian and democratic”, was the message that Biden wrote on his Twitter account.
Criticism for the Chancellor’s “lapse” did not stop there and on the contrary they increased when, applying the phrase “there is always a trill”netizens recalled Biden’s meeting with former president Iván Duque in March of last year, in which the US president also referred to the country as “the cornerstone” of the hemisphere.
“I had the honor of receiving my friend President Iván Duque at the White House today. Colombia is the cornerstone of our shared efforts to build a prosperous hemisphere, safe and democratic. As we celebrate 200 years of diplomatic relations, I look forward to what we will achieve in the future, ”was Biden’s message after his meeting with Duque on March 10, 2022.
Coincidence or not, Biden highlighted, with both leaders, the importance of the country as the “cornerstone” of the southern hemisphere and not Petro. “Discard” then of the Chancellor?
Another “slip” of the Pact
The former senator of the Historical Pact, Gustavo Bolívar, was another who starred in a “slip” on Twitter related to the meeting between Biden and Petro this week.
The writer and scriptwriter also cited a message from Joe Biden related to the climate crisis, a flagship issue of the Petro Government and which has led to different international stages such as the UN General Assembly last year.
Biden wrote: “I am not waiting to address the climate crisis. The signs are unmistakable. The science is undeniable. And the cost of inaction continues to rise.”
Bolívar reacted to Biden’s message by insinuating that Petro “inspired” the US president with his proposed debt-for-climate-action swap.
“Do you know who inspired the US President to ask world banks to consider the proposal for a debt swap for climate action?”, Was the question that Bolívar launched and, although he hoped that the Internet users would agree with him, the former congressman “went for wool and came out shorn”, because They reminded him that, in 2021, former President Duque launched the proposal at the summit of world leaders on climate.
“Colombia is committed to concrete actions and we hope that, as a region, the message that comes out of Glasgow (during COP26,) It allows us to have practical solutions, starting with the availability of resources and the creation of debt compensation tools, in view of the fulfillment of objectives derived from climate action,” Duque said at the time.
And he added at that moment: “I am raising my voice to say something clearly: it is necessary to have innovative tools and that we establish debt cancellation or neutralization systems against climate action objectives.. If many goals are met, there may be commutation or forgiveness of credits.
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