Gustavo Petro at the UN: “Humanity has lost and has advanced without hesitation the times of extinction”

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, spoke before the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly and gave a harsh speech in which he referred to the deepening of the “polycrisis”, in reference to the multiple causes that affect human life, and pointed out against those who call on Latin Americans to go to war to “train war machines, men to go to the combat fields,” CNN Spanish informs.

“They forgot that our countries were invaded several times by the same people who today talk about fighting invasions. They forgot that they invaded Iraq, Syria, Libya for oil. They forgot that the same reasons that are expressed to defend Zelensky are the same reasons that should be defended Palestine,” Petro said, adding that to complete all sustainable development goals “all wars” would have to stop.

Petro has avoided taking a side in Russia’s war with Ukraine and refused to send weapons and tanks to Ukraine, something that the United States Government reportedly asked of him in January of this year.

“They helped start one (war) because it was convenient for world power in their game of thrones, in the hunger games, and they forgot to end the other (war) because it was not convenient for power to end it,” said Petro, asking that the war in Palestine ended.

In a message with a clear anti-war content, Petro noted: “While the clock has advanced in the minutes that define life or death on our planet, instead of sitting down to stop time and discuss how to defend life for later, thanks to deepening knowledge, expanding it in the universe, we decided to waste time killing each other.”

In what was his second participation in this world forum, Petro compared the evolution since September 20, 2002 and what is happening today, compared to the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals that should be achieved by 2030 at the latest. On this occasion he maintained that the “polycrisis”, in reference to the multiple causes that affect human life, has deepened.

“What has happened since the last speech I gave at the United Nations is that we have only seen a deepening of what the rich gathered in Davos (Switzerland) called the ‘polycrisis’: the war continues, hunger continues, the recession increases, and the climate crisis has shown its teeth like never before, taking tens of thousands of lives and warming the lands and seas like never before. All these crises are actually one: the crisis of life.”

And he added that “it has been a year that humanity has lost and has advanced without hesitation the times of extinction”, because “it seems that the world leadership had become enemies with life.”

As in 2022, Petro spoke of the natural beauty of Colombia to refer to the deterioration of human life and the mass exodus of millions of people around the world.

“In my homeland, the country of beauty, Colombia, the country of the explosion of life, in 2070 there will only be deserts left. The people will go north, no longer attracted by the sequins of wealth, but by something simpler and more vital: water. Billions that will challenge armies and change the Earth,” she said with a dark tone.

And he added: “The exodus has grown this year, showing how the crisis of life is advancing.”

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