Petro says cocaine is "less poisonous" than coal and oil
Colombian president criticizes destruction of drug plantations citing environmental damage.
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has demanded "the end of the irrational war on drugs" during his speech at the UN General Assembly. Petro also stressed that cocaine consumption is "less poisonous" than the use of coal or oil for the planet and called for a social change to reduce consumption.
For the president, "the real addiction of this phase of human history is the irrational power of profit and money". To justify his statement, he spoke of the"addiction to coal and oil" as the real global danger in the face of drug consumption.
For this reason, the former guerrilla fighter charged against the destruction of drug plantations, stressing that, in doing so, the jungles are destroyed. The same forests that governments say they want to defend as environmentalists:
He also insisted that the war on drugs is being lost and called for a change of course:
With these arguments, Petro called for "stopping the irrational war on drugs" and building a society with "less profit and more love".
Speaking of wars, the former guerrilla gave his own version of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Pastrana's response
These statements were quickly answered by former President Andres Pastrana on Twitter, with a harsh publication recalling, in passing, the narco-terrorist past of the current Colombian president.
Putin offers closer ties to Petro
Russian President Vladimir Putin took advantage of the presentation of credentials of the new ambassador to Colombia to again show his closeness to Petro.
In addition, Putin again noted that he sees in Colombia "a promising partner of Russia in Latin America with which we are interested in maintaining friendly relations". In addition, the Russian leader stressed that his country will continue to support the peace process in which the South American country is still immersed.