Colombia President Gustavo Petro to Meet With Joe Biden at the White House

For the first time, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro will visit the White House and meet with U.S. President Joe Biden. It will be Petro's second trip to the United States since he made history as the country's first former rebel-turned-president.

The Colombian president is expected to visit the White House on Thursday for a bilateral meeting with Biden, with the two leaders expected to discuss "joint efforts to combat climate change, counter narcotics trafficking, address our regional migration challenge, and promote democratic values and human and labor rights in the region and the world."

The White House had already confirmed the upcoming meeting between Biden and Petro, with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying Colombia is a "key partner" for the United States.

The meeting comes as Biden is dealing with an influx of migrants from South America. He has been trying to find ways to reduce the number of migrants coming into the U.S.

According to The Hill, Colombia has been a partner in helping the Biden administration to crack down on human trafficking.

Recently, the Biden administration announced that it is leading a multilateral policy action group to combat human smuggling and human trafficking, along with other South American countries, including Colombia. Other countries in the policy group include Argentina, El Salvador, and Panama.

Petro previously missed a meeting with Biden, which was supposedly one of the highlights of the Colombian president's five-day trip to New York last September.

At the time, Biden had hosted an official dinner for world leaders attending the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

But by the time Petro arrived for the champagne reception, Biden had already departed to Washington. The Colombian president was reportedly almost two hours late due to "traffic."

Colombia Still Dealing With the Problem of ELN Rebels

As Gustavo Petro prepares to meet with Joe Biden, he still faces a lot of problems in Colombia.

Despite being a former rebel fighter, Petro still struggles in their peace negotiations with the country's largest remaining rebel organization, the ELN, which has been terrorizing the country since the 1960s.

According to the Associated Press, the peace talks between the Colombian government under Petro and the ELN were launched in November, shortly after Petro was elected president.

Petro, who has been in power for less than a year, has promised to negotiate peace or surrender accords with any remaining rebels or criminal organizations in Colombia.

Petro said the peace talks with the ELN were the cornerstone of his plan to resolve a decades-long conflict. The meeting between Biden and Petro is also expected to discuss security cooperation between the two countries.

Gustavo Petro Removed Police Chief Who Wanted to Use Exorcisms to Catch Criminals

Gustavo Petro recently grabbed global headlines when he dismissed Gen. Henry Sanabria, the national police director of Colombia, who raised eyebrows for his controversial statement that police use exorcisms to catch fugitives.

Sanabria told Semana Magazine last month that police carried out exorcisms to catch leaders of drug gangs and guerrilla groups.

While neither Petro nor the Colombian Ministry of Defense did not elaborate on the official reason why Sanabria was removed from his post, many believe it may be related to his being a staunch Catholic.

However, Interior Minister Alfonso Prada said that Sanabria's dismissal was part of a new start for the national police force. Petro appointed Sanabria in August of last year.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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