Colombia’s first leftist president was sworn in to start his four-year term on Sunday, pledging to redistribute wealth and re-think the “failed” war on drugs.
Gustavo Petro assumes control of an economy with government debt near record levels, which will make it tough for him to meet promises of more education and welfare spending while preventing the fiscal deficit from ballooning out of control.
“We propose a tax reform that generates justice,” Petro said in his first speech as president, in Bogota’s central plaza. “To take a part of the wealth of the people who have the most, to open the doors for education for all children and young people.”
