Eduardo González
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, received yesterday at the Moncloa Palace the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, to whom he showed his support for the “ambitious and courageous Total Peace project” and announced a contribution of one million euros in 2023 to “strengthen this peace process”. Both leaders also pledged to “explore” cross-border development and cooperation initiatives with Venezuela and, without mentioning the dispute over the San José galleon, to “protect together the historical legacy that unites the two countries”.
During the meeting, which took place on the second day of Petro’s state visit to Spain and served as a continuation of the visit that Sánchez himself made to Colombia in August 2022, the President of the Government showed his support “for the ambitious and courageous Total Peace project” and recalled that Spain is an “accompanying country” in the process of dialogue with the National Liberation Army (ELN). In this context, as he explained in the press conference following the meeting, Sanchez conveyed to Petro Spain’s commitment to “strengthen the needs of this peace process with the contribution of one million euros in 2023”.
Precisely, the two leaders approved a Joint Declaration whose first point (of a total of 38) states that the two countries “reaffirm their commitment to promote and achieve peace in Colombia through the full implementation of the 2016 Final Agreement and the opening of dialogue processes with illegal armed groups, which can lead to the end of violence and build a lasting peace, based on the principles of truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition.”
In this sense, the text continues, “underline the importance of Spain’s role as an accompanying country in the dialogues with the National Liberation Army (ELN) and reaffirm their commitment so that these dialogues can offer results for the benefit of the Colombian people and especially for the communities and territories most affected by the conflict”. In this sense, Petro asked Sánchez, from the Spanish Presidency of the EU, to support the exclusion of the ELN from the European list of terrorist organizations if the peace talks prosper.
At the press conference, Petro was asked if he stood by the words he said hours before travelling to our country in which he celebrated the fact that the Colombian people fought in his day to “free themselves from the Spanish yoke”.
The Colombian president replied that he sees “nothing problematic” in saying that the people and revolutionary thoughts liberated them from the yoke. He compared this situation to feudalism in Europe, recalling that when he was a high school student, in history classes, they were taught that feudalism was a system of domination in which people were separated into two classes: serfs and lords of the land, the feudalists.
“This society was a society of the yoke,” he said, stressing that this is why people rose up against the “feudal yoke”. He added that this type of reasoning was overcome a long time ago, but insisted that it came to America and he sees no problem in saying that they fought against it: “I don’t think that today there are defenders of this type of yoke who want us to be serfs or slaves,” he said.
He went on to say that any human being seeks freedom and “therefore, to overcome the yokes”, and pointed out that Spain “has shown some beautiful passages of history, even universal history”, because of the attempts of the people to free themselves from the yokes. “So have we”, he said.
Venezuela and historical legacy
The Declaration also mentions the “willingness” of both governments “to explore options for the support of Spanish Cooperation to cross-border development and cooperation initiatives with Venezuela and for the implementation of triangular cooperation projects to share good practices in inclusive public policies for the benefit of the rights of all people in Colombia and Venezuela”.
In addition, Pedro Sánchez agreed with Petro on the need to overcome the political deadlock in Venezuela and recalled at the press conference that Spain participated in the Ministerial Conference that the Colombian President organized last week in Bogota with the aim of relaunching the dialogue between Nicolás Maduro and the opposition. Both leaders consider that dialogue “is of vital importance in order to find a solution to the structural crisis in which Venezuela finds itself as soon as possible”.
In the Declaration, Spain and Colombia “ratify their interest in continuing to seek new ways of collaboration in museums, tangible, intangible and underwater cultural heritage, cultural diversity, cultural industries, film and audiovisual, performing arts, libraries and the book sector” and assume, without citing the dispute over the galleon San José, “the obligation to protect together the historical legacy that unites the two countries, from a comprehensive perspective and focused on the value of the cultural and ethnic diversity of their peoples”.
During the bilateral meeting, the two governments signed several agreements and memorandums of understanding in a wide range of areas, such as education, the fight against crime and security, sports, socio-labor cooperation, transportation and railway infrastructure and connectivity. Likewise, Sánchez and Petro highlighted the opening of the new Spanish Cultural Center in Bogotá and agreed on the importance of the joint promotion of Spanish in the world and, in particular, they are committed to promoting the official status of Spanish in international organizations, as well as the use of Spanish as a language of communication”.
CEOE: tourism for oil
Before his meeting with Sánchez, Petro participated in the Colombia-Spain Business Meeting, organized by the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), in which the Colombian president assured that his country needs to replace oil exploration and exploitation with the development of the tourism industry as the first source of income, for which he hopes to be able to count on the experience of Spain. “We believe that tourism is an answer, even in the short term” and, therefore, the Government is promoting “some pillars, such as the construction of tourist trails, the articulation of the tourist areas of the country”.
“If tourism can replace the foreign currency from oil and coal, you have a great experience and then another important field of activity opens up for us,” he said. “Colombia is the country of beauty, it has a natural potential, it is the second power in biodiversity; from the cultural point of view it is the fourth country in number of languages spoken, which means an immense cultural diversity”, but, given its geographical conditions, it requires an adequate infrastructure, he added.
He also reported that “half of the Colombian economy are MSMEs, 80% of jobs in Colombia are generated by MSMEs”, and stressed, in this regard, that Spain has a great tradition in supporting small and medium enterprises, so cooperation between the two countries “would be very important”. Petro also highlighted Colombia’s potential for the production and export of clean energies such as green hydrogen. “We have the sun, the wind and water, all together. We have wind energy and water right there and the port right there,” he said. Petro also highlighted his government’s roadmap and the possibilities of collaboration for the future and informed that the National Development Plan, a guiding document of what the government intends to do during this term of office, was approved yesterday.
The event was attended by the Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Héctor Gómez; the President of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi; and the President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, José Luis Bonet. Petro was accompanied by the Ministers of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Germán Umaña, and Mines and Energy, Irene Vélez.
Héctor Gómez assured that “today there are more than 800 Spanish companies installed in Colombia, in all sectors of the economy, which enjoy a great experience and reputation and are committed to Spanish economic and social development” and pointed out that Spanish exports to Colombia accumulate two consecutive years of strong growth, with a year-on-year increase of 48% in 2021 and 33% in 2022.
For his part, Garamendi stated that to strengthen investment in Colombia the recipe is always the same: “legal security, regulatory stability, quality of the rules and sense of State”, while Bonet stressed that “Colombia represents a strategic priority for Spain”, which is among the top three international investors in Colombia, and with a positive social impact, since the top 25 Spanish investment companies have generated more than 50,000 direct jobs, and close to one million indirect and induced jobs.
According to the CEOE, “the ties between the two countries are very close, not only for historical reasons, but also because of the presence of Spanish companies in Colombia and the outstanding labor contribution of the Colombian colony residing in Spain”. Spain is, after the United States, the second country in foreign investment in Colombia. In 2022, the value of exports from Spain to Colombia reached 982.25 million euros, while those from Colombia to Spain exceeded 998 million.