Colombian President Gustavo Petro was elected promising huge reforms. But since taking office, he has given mixed signals regarding how far, and how fast, his government might change Colombia’s economy, society and role in the world. Will the country’s class structure be significantly altered? Will there be a shift in drug policy? Will Colombia drop oil and coal from its energy matrix? And how much support do his proposals have? In this episode of The Americas Quarterly Podcast, Ricardo Ávila, senior analyst for the newspaper El Tiempo, takes stock of Petro’s first months as head of state and assesses how transformative his presidency could be.
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Guest:
Ricardo Ávila is a columnist for El Tiempo and a political consultant
Host:
Brian Winter is editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly
Supplemental reading:
AQ Presidential Profiles: Gustavo Petro by AQ editors
Can Petro Pull Off ‘Total Peace’ in Colombia? by Will Freeman
AQ Podcast: Colombia’s Petro Prepares for Government
Who Is Colombia’s Next Finance Minister? by Luiza Franco
A New Era for US-Colombia Relations by Cynthia J. Arnson
