Video Infoblog: Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Ukraine, Palestine, Why Latin America Rejects Western Hypocrisy

 

 

 

Transcript

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the United Nations General Assembly is

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continuing today in New York on Tuesday

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Colombian president Gustavo Petro gave

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an inspired address calling to end Wars

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while doing more to combat climate

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change which he described as the mother

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of all crises Petro called for the

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United Nations to hold peace Summits to

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resolve the conflicts in Ukraine and

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Palestine

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Gustavo Petro is the first leftist to

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ever be president of Colombia the second

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largest country in South America after

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Brazil he was elected last year after

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campaigning to fight against inequality

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and poverty increased taxes on the

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wealthy expand social programs restore

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peace and end Colombia's dependence on

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fossil fuels

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Gustavo Petra ran for office with

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Francia marquezmina who became the first

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black woman and the first afro-columbian

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ever elected vice president Gustavo

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Petro is a former m19 gorilla who went

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on to become the mayor of Bogota and a

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senator well on Tuesday I had a chance

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to sit down with President Petro for an

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exclusive broadcast interview

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this is democracy Now

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democracynow.org The War and Peace

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report I'm Amy Goodman we're here at

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Columbia's permanent mission to the

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United Nations just after president

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Gustavo Petro gave his speech before the

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U.N General Assembly he was the third

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person to speak first the Brazilian

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president Lula then President Biden then

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Colombia's president Gustavo Petro

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welcome back to democracy Now

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thank you very kind

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you spoke just after President Biden

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in part of his speech he talked about

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the world giving more support to Ukraine

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in your speech you called for two peace

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Summits one in Ukraine and one for

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Palestine

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you said

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I asked what is the difference between

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Ukraine and Palestine isn't it time to

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end both Wars and other Wars and use the

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little time we have to build the roads

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to save life on Earth

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talk about what you are calling for

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eign

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Latin America almost in general

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has not had the same position as NATO

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nor the United States North European

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Union

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we have been invited to provide arms

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machinery for war to send soldiers to

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the war in Ukraine

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have not accepted that invitation

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basically we're neutral in any War not

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because we don't believe that there is

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an occupation

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but because basically we don't believe

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in those who are inviting us to

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participate in war because many of the

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countries of Latin America Guatemala the

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Dominican Republic Panama Grenada

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Argentina and so on have suffered

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invasions by the same countries that

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today are extending an invitation to

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reject the invasion of Ukraine most of

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the Latin American countries rejected

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the invasions of Libya Iraq and Syria

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which were done for motives which today

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are illegal and in that regard when I

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compare

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the situation of Palestine with the

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situation of the Ukraine

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I want to show a parallelism

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in the real situations there's military

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occupation in both countries

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but there's a different attitude among

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world powers the European Union is

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interested in

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pushing Russia back together with NATO

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they have certainly have economic

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arrangements with Ukraine Ukraine is

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like the role of Mexico in relation to

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the United States but they're not

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interested in Palestine they're not

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interested in the conflict with Israel

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they're not the United States is not

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interested in having a conflict with

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Israel enforcing the Oslo Accords which

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date back 30 years and we spoke of two

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states and the Palestinians often team

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and uh yeah ending a civilian and

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military occupation of Palestinian

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territory that is not happening yet in

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the same friends face of the same

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circumstance since we have a two-phase

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situation that is what I call the

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hypocrisy of international policy in

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Latin America that's not well received

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and that is why I proposed that the

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United Nations be consistent

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we want a peace conference

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in the Ukraine and in Palestine it's

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because we want there to be a common

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policy against invasions in any part of

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the world carried out by any country it

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doesn't depend on which country invades

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in the Rome statue which was the basis

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for the international criminal court

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an international crime was added there

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and it is called aggression

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International aggression it had never

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been used before

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and that formulation which is to be

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found in their own statute has not been

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used because almost all of the countries

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that today condemn the invasion of

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Ukraine as a matter of military power

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have also invaded other countries it's

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just that they don't want those

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invasions to be condemned have you

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discussed this with President Biden

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yes clearly and with European Union

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because recently we had a conference in

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Brussels among all the countries of

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Latin America

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and the European Union and note that the

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first effort instead of trying to focus

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the discussion on the objective of the

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conference which was to build stronger

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relations between Latin America and

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Europe

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what European leaders wanted was to

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bring zielinski and to have a show in

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the midst in the middle of the meeting

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with Latin America the immense majority

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of the Latin American countries opposed

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that because we are not going to that

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meeting for the purpose of being used

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and a good part of the discussion at the

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end

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we found out around how to we could

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establish a new era in our relations but

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rather around the question of the war in

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Ukraine a war which is prejudicial to

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Latin America because it has led to

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Greater hunger among the populations of

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Latin America what we want is peace we

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said the same thing to the government of

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the United States

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indeed in my case personally

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given that previous administrations in

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Colombia purchased Russian Weaponry

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which is there in Colombia there was a

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request on the part of both Russia for

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the Russian weapons to go back to Russia

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and from the United States for the

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Russian Weaponry to go to the Ukraine I

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did not accept either

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what Latin America wants is peace today

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peace is indispensable not only because

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the consequences that that war could

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entail and I think we're beginning to

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see them

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with an expansion of the idea of war in

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the world but because we need this time

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and that was the objective of my speech

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with the United Nations in order to act

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based on what is most important yeah the

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most important thing we face today which

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is defending life on the planet which is

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making an effective decisions that would

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make it possible to bring a halt to The

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Climate crisis

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so what is the benefit to us if Ukraine

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or Russia wins whether NATO expands or

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not

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if human life is limited in this

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definitive manner on the planet Earth