EVENT SCHEDULE:
LUNCH | 1:00 - 2:00 pm (MUST RSVP)
PANEL 1 (student panel) | 2:15 - 3:15 pm
PANEL 2 (professor panel) | 3:30 - 4:30 pm
Juliana Restrepo
Oyuela Caicedo
Paola Uparela
EVENT DESCRIPTION
The election of Gustavo Petro as president of Colombia represents a significant shift in the Andean country’s politics. A former member of the M-19 guerrilla group, Petro is the first left-wing president since Colombia adopted its 1991 progressive constitution. Petro’s candidacy and election as president is also significant in other regards. His vicepresident, Francia Marquez, is the first Black woman to ever be elected as vice-president. Her credentials as an environmental, women’s and Afrocolombian’s rights activist also set her apart from former vicepresidents. Petro held symbolic sworn-in ceremonies with indigenous, Afrocolombian, and Rom, peoples in Bogotá as well as with the Arhuaco community in the Sierra Nevada. His government is also the first to nominate an indigenous woman, Leonor Zabala, as ambassador to the United Nations, and the first AfroColombian, Luis Gilberto Murillo, as ambassador to the United States.
In this event, we seek to understand the challenges, tensions, and possibilities of Gustavo Petro’s government in regards to the protection and inclusion of indigenous and Afrocolombian communities.