09/21/23 09/21/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> when i compare the situation of palestine with the situation in ukraine, i want to show a parallelism in real situations. but there is a different attitude in the world powers.

amy: today, and exclusive broadcast interview with colombian president gustavo petro who is calling on the united nations to hold peace summits to end the conflicts in ukraine and palestine. we will talk about war, the climate crisis, the 50th anniversary of the u.s.-backed coup in chile, immigration, how -- and the disastrous impact of u.s. sanctions on cuba and venezuela. >> the blockade against venezuela had a boomerang type response, not hitting united states which are the ones who decided to impose the blockade. -- now hitting united states which they are the ones who decided to impose the blockade. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman. humanity has opened the gates of hell. that was the stark warning of u.n. secretary-general wednesday as he opened a special summit on the climate crisis on the sidelines of the u.n. general simile. he castigated wealthy nations and fossil fuel interests for failing to stop the burning of coal, oil, and gas. he did not invite leaders of the u.s. and china, the world's two largest greenhouse gas emitters, to address the summit saying only those who take climate action seriously would be allowed to attend. barbados' prime minister mia mottley noted the summit coincided with a u.n. security council meeting on russia's invasion of ukraine. >> and i hope in the same way we can take ukraine seriously in the security council that we can take the climate crisis

seriously. this is as much a threat -- in fact, it is a greater threat because our lives are at stake globally than are at in ukraine. amy: in washington, d.c., police arrested four people wednesday as they held a peaceful protest demanding president biden declare a climate emergency. it was the latest in a series of civil disobedience actions that have seen arrested outside the 14 white house in recent days. wednesday's protest came as biden announced the creation of the american climate corps, a paid training program for jobs critical to combating the climate crisis. the white house did not say how much it will spend on the new climate corps, which was created through executive action and will have to draw from existing funding sources. with 20,000 positions, it's much smaller in scope than early proposals that envisioned a 300,000-member civilian climate corps. the climate action group sunrise movement praised the plan as a visionary policy. keanu arpels-josiah, a new

york-based youth organizer of last weekend's march to end fossil fuels, said -- "biden clearly knows he can use his executive powers to take bolder steps on climate. it's time he used them to stop approving oil and gas projects, phase down drilling on public lands and waters, and declare a climate emergency." scientists have found human-made climate change made libya's extreme rainfall and flooding earlier this month 50 times more likely and 50% worse. the devastating flooding and dam collapse in derna killed at least 4000 people, with thousands of others still missing as rescuers continue their work. >> every day we extract bodies in indescribable numbers that cannot be imagined. the situation is tragic. whole streets completely disappeared. amy: earlier this week, officials in eastern libya ordered reporters to leave derna following large protests that blamed the tragedy on the government. some libyan journalists were reportedly detained. the area's internet and mobile networks also reportedly went

down tuesday. in sudan, the u.n. is warning of a worsening child death crisis five months into a bloody war between sudan's army and the rapid support forces paramilitary group. over 1200 children have died of suspected measles and malnutrition in refugee camps. this is unicef spokesperson james elder. >> on the back of a cruel disregard for civilians and relentless attacks on health facilities, unicef fears many thousands of newborns will die between now and the end of the year. 330,000 children will be born in sudan between october and december. they and their mothers do need skilled delivery care where millions are lacking access to basic health care services. amy: cnn is reporting ukrainian special services are suspected to be responsible for a series of drone strikes earlier this month on wagner-backed militia militia forces in sudan.

ukrainian officials said they could neither confirm nor deny the reports. cnn says wagner has been supplying arms to the rsf in its battle against sudan's military. talks are under way between officials from azerbaijan and from the breakaway region of nagorno-karabakh two days after azerbaijan launched a deadly military operation in the disputed territory and one day after a ceasefire was announced. on wednesday, the azerbaijani president ilham aliyev said his country had restored sovereignty over nagorno-karabakh, which is overwhelmingly made up of ethnic armenians, but is recognized as azerbaijani territory as part of a russia-brokered ceasefire following the 2020 war. meanwhile, protesters in armenia took to the streets to demand prime minister nikol pashinyan resign for failing to support separatists in nagorno-karabakh, who agreed to disarm wednesday. negotiator said today certain security guarantees would have to be agreed to before they permanently disarm. residents of nagorno-karabakh have suffered food, fuel, and medical shortages due to an ongoing blockade by azerbaijan, which has also led to

accusations of genocide. the white house says it will once again allow u.s. households to order free covid-19 tests through the mail as disease experts warn of a likely surge of winter infections. this comes as the biden administration's rollout of an updated covid vaccine is off to a rocky start, with widespread reports of shipping delays and gaps in health insurance coverage for the shots. some patients report they were charged up to $190 per shot at pharmacies even though most private health insurance plans, along with medicare or medicaid, are required to pay the full cost of the vaccinations. previously, the u.s. government purchased covid shots from manufacturers and offered them to all u.s. residents for free. the senate has confirmed air force general charles q. brown, jr. as chair of the joint chiefs of staff. brown becomes the second african american after general colin powell to hold the role of the u.s. military's top commander. senate majority leader chuck

schumer used a procedural maneuver to force a vote on brown's nomination, circumventing a month-long blockade by republican senator tommy to prevail -- time to prevail. schumer also advanced confirmation votes to fill vacancies atop the u.s. army and marine corps. senator turberville has -- attorney general merrick garland wednesday, has defended the justice department's handling of its criminal investigation into president biden's son hunter biden, who was indicted last week on three felony charges related to his possession of a firearm. special counsel david weiss brought the charges after a federal judge in july rejected a deal that would have seen biden plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts in order to escape more serious charges.

testifying to the republican-controlled house judiciary committee on wednesday, attorney general garland insisted he has kept his promise to not interfere with the investigation. >> i am not the president's lawyer. i will add, i'm not congress' prosecutor. the justice department works for the american people. amy: in colorado, a court heard opening statements wednesday in the trial of two aurora police officers whose violent arrest led to the death of elijah mcclain in 2019. mcclain, a 23-year-old black man, was walking home from the store when he was tackled by police, placed in a carotid hold, and later injected with the powerful sedative ketamine. he died several days later. a prosecutor told jurors yesterday, "he was just walking home." his last words to officers randy roedema and jason rosenblatt were "i'm an introvert. i am just different, that's all.

i'm so sorry." both men pleaded not guilty to all charges, including criminally negligent homicide. and a new report from pen america finds a 33% spike in the number of public school book bans during the 2022-2023 school year compared to the prior year. the report finds 40% of recent book bans occurred in florida, where governor ron desantis and republican lawmakers have imposed mass restrictions on books about race and lgbtq issues in school libraries and classrooms. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the united nations general assembly is continuing today in new york. on tuesday, colombian president gustavo petro gave an inspired address calling to end wars while doing more to combat climate change, which he described as "the mother of all crises." petro he called for the united nations to hold peace summits to

resolve the conflicts in ukraine and palestine. gustavo petro is the first leftist to ever be president of colombia. he was elected last year after campaigning to fight against inequality and poverty, increase taxes on the wealthy, expand social programs, restore peace, and end colombia's dependence on fossil fuels. gustavo petro ran for office with francia márquez mina, who became the first black woman and the first afro-colombian ever elected as vice president. gustavo petro is a former m-19 guerrilla who went on to become the mayor of bogotá and a senator. well, on tuesday, i had a chance to sit down with president petro for an exclusive broadcast interview. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

we are here at colombia's permanent mission to the united nations just after president gustavo petro gave his speech before the u.n. general assembly. he was the third person to speak . first the brazilian president lula penn president biden, then colombia's president gustavo petro. welcome back to democracy now! >> thank you very kindly. amy: you spoke just after president biden. ," part of his speech, he talked about the world giving more of his support ukraine. you called for two peace summits. one in ukraine and one for palestine. you said -- >> i ask, what is the difference between ukraine and palestine? isn't it time to end both wars

and other wars and use the time we have to build roads to save life on earth? amy: talk about what you are calling for. >> latin america almost in general has not had the same position as nato nor united states, nor european union. we have been invited to provide arms, machinery for war, dissent soldiers to the war in ukraine -- to send soldiers to the war in ukraine. we have not accepted that rotation. basically, we are neutral in any war. now because we don't believe there is an occupation, basically, we don't believe in those who are inviting us to participate in war because many of the countries have suffered

invasion by the same country that today are extending an invitation to reject the invasion of ukraine. most rejected the invasions of iraq and syria. in that regard, when i compare the situation in palestine with the situation of the ukraine, i want to show a parallelism in wrist situations. there is much occupation in both countries. but a different attitude and powers. the european union is interested in pushing russia back together with nato.

ukraine is that the role of mexico like the united states interested [indiscernible] the united states is not interested in having a conflict with israel. [indiscernible] that is what i call hypocrisy. that is why i propose that the united nations be consistent. if we want a peace conference in the ukraine and the palestine, it is because we want there to be a common policy against

invasions in any part of the world carried out by any country . it doesn't depend on which country invades. in the statute that was the basis for the international criminal court, an international crime was added and it is called agesarsamy: have you discussed s with president biden? >> yes, clearly, and with the european union. recently, with a conference in brussels among all the countries of latin america and european

union. [indiscernible] we are not going to thathe purp. [indiscernible] what we want is peace. we said the same thing to the government of the united states.

given the previous administrations of colombia purchased -- [indiscernible] i did not accept either. what latin america wants is peace. [indiscernible]

amy: colombian president gustavo petro. coming up, we will speak about the climate crisis, migration, and why he opposes u.s. sanctions on venezuela and cuba. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "yo me llamo cumbia" by totó la momposina. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. i am amy goodman. we return now to our interview with the president of colombia gustavo petro. president petro, said mankind has dedicated itself to war and that instead it must put its resources into dealing with climate change, would you have called the mother of all crises. -- which you have called the mother of all crises. how do you propose the world do this as your together world leaders here at the united nations? >> well, i'm not very optimistic with these meetings. like the french say, not necessary [indiscernible]

the idea is not produced -- line at the cops, but they have no binding force. they just come up with a list that may not be taken into account. the conversation around climate change is very different than the conversation around world trade. world trade has a binding institution. if one breaches a rule, subject to serious financial punishment. the wto, for example, is the institution for free-market economies. more important to resolve the

issue of the climate change because this is opposite of vital matter yet one doesn't assign the same force. nobody fails to obey the rules, there is no courts for this coming. so everyone can just slip by, as we say, ignoring decisions made. that is why the 2015 cop in paris with the most powerful countries on earth under nato commitment to provide $100 billion which today is very small sum compared to what is needed to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. not even $10 billion has come in of that yet. that same figure in one week, if you look at the military contributions of germany, the united kingdom, and the united states then these have -- some

have come forward but for the war in ukraine. amy: you have called for the combination -- decarbonization, yet colombia exports -- oil is the number one export. yet the largest open coal pit in the world. can you talk about how you accomplish this? >> yes, this is certainly a matter of debate in colombia especially. i've wanted to show the world that even though we live off of oil and coal, the president of the republic and have the world -- ask for decarbonization. it makes sense. because in many countries, even russia, which are powers in

respect of their oil reserves, their gas reserves, there is an attitude of wanting to stop the possibility of the transformation of the world by stopping using coal, oil, and gas. science has not been wrong on this. progressive is based on doing politics enlightened by science, not a rational politics -- not a rational politics. science tells us if we use what is buried in colombia in the way of coal or what is buried in venezuela in terms of oil reserve, then we would pass a point of no return and humankind

would have no possibility. life on the planet -- [indiscernible] nonetheless, we, colombia, is calling for a change in the economy. within colombia, that has produced a major debate. you say, the president must be crazy. no one in the world is listening to what he has to say. he's taking us to an abyss. i trust his humanity will not let itself become extinguished, that in a relatively short time period, say 10 to 15 years, in effect the demand for oil and coal will collapse in the world. what we call the fossil economy, what we call most of the

capitalism on earth has two turn to new technologies without coal and without oil. what we call the decarbonized economy today is going to impose new realities on the world economy. there there will be different social relations of production. and if we don't go in that direction, then we are going to have a tremendous inequality [indiscernible] i would hope one could move in tandem if not move ahead.

[indiscernible] coal and oil for south america have become a mirage in which they might become anchored even as a result -- they would leave latin america behind in a transformation the entire world is going to undergo . and that transformation mustn't be seen as backsliding to poverty in colombia, for example, there are five generators of electricity, sources -- companies. they have rates -- electricity rates are extremely high. this is one of the paradoxes which in the caribbean coast,

there is plentiful sol year-round and most of south america -- in most of south america and colombia, most of the energy consumed is gas where solar energy could be much cheaper. that irrationality today has to do with a frontier, the oligopoly doesn't want to make a transition to clean energy because clean energy could enable us, well, can make it possible for one or 2 million households and all of colombia to generate their own electricity based on solar energy, for example. and with great efficiency in the case of the caribbean, we would move from one generator to millions and this could be called a democratization. that would produce a decarbonized economy.

well, it doesn't like this big fossil fuel capitalism which has become a great monopoly worldwide which is putting resistance. [indiscernible] it will lead to democratization of the world. and not concentration of property and wealth as has been the case so far. amy: president petro, i want to talk to that migration stuff which directly links to climate. you've talked about climate violence, conflict. you have called it the exodus of humanity. tens of thousands of asylum-seekers make their way through the deadly darién gap, the darien jungle between the border of colombia and panama. what should be done to ensure the safety of asylum-seekers? especially when they get to the united states. your views on the u.s. seeking to persuade other countries like

your own, colombia, like mexico, guatemala, to enforce u.s. border policy and prevent asylum-seekers from going north? >> three years ago, nobody was going to the darién gég. as 500. given the flow which is 3000 persons a day, next year could be a total of one million people going through the darién gap. after going through the darién gap, the figures double going through central america and mexico. and about 2 million people reach the united states every year trying to get in. it is an exodus. it is an exodus that colombia

was not familiar with before. and it goes through the most -- jungle worldwide. not even the old guerrilla forces in colombia had use that region as part of their geography because it is so inhospitable. recall the difficulties that engineering faced when it came to build the panama canal. so many workers who died at that time. well, here it is even worse because this is a jungle which is very bio diverse but also inhospitable for human beings so no one goes through there. i know we are approaching one million people. most of them, children, older people, women. and as pope francis said, and quite rightly so at a conference when i was mayor a few years ago, he taught me because i had not seen -- he tied the concept

of exodus to the concept of new forms of slavery. in effect i am seeing this with my very own eyes. that human exodus and began moving from venezuela to colombia expanded throughout south america and now much more with other countries they're going across the darién gap. that exodus is a victim of a series of forms of new slavery. mafias, armed organizations that are taking women to prostitution in the united states. they are using child labor to transport drugs. they are raping women along the way. the children that die of dehydration -- there is a human catastrophe which happens why?

well, this is where we have the discussion with the united states. 62% according to panamanian figures, and we find 75% of the population that has been crossing to the darién gap's venezuelan, that population which after the blockade and before covid were already going en masse to colombia and disperse route south america. the population now wants to go to the united states. that is to say the blockade against venezuela has had a boomerang-type response, now hitting the very united states which decided to impose the blockade. knocking at their door is a population they drove into poverty.

venezuela is a rich country. they have endless amount of oil and gas and the population was relatively stable whenever the resume, whether it was under chavez or what they call -- but with the blockade, the standard of living of these persons collapse. they basically have totally threw off the equilibrium -- many of them have left and now what they want is to make it to the united states. how can one partially reduce the exodus? well, lift the blockade against venezuela. amy: have you discussed with presidentiden lifting the embargo against venezuela? also you are just in cuba for the g77, lifting the embargo there, the effects that these embargoes have? >> the cuban case is even more

strident, we could say. because cuba is on two lists. one, the blockade, for embargo, which dates back so many decades. and the other which was -- it was added to a list of countries that sponsor terrorism. the second list imposes even more radical measures such as, for example, that they are not able to buy medicine abroad, medicines which are necessary for health come inside the country. it is a real crime. people who are ill -- it kills people who are ill. that list, which was put together by the united states, in the face of that list, the

president of colombia who is an enemy of peace in colombia, used it insisting that the trump administration should put cuba back on that list. succeeded in doing so. the excuse was that cuba was the scenario of peace talks between theel guerrillas and the colombiann government. when duque came in as president, and he was not happy with the peace process and shut it down, he asked cuba to turn over the eln. this was a real betrayal. the two states had already signed an agreement saying that cannot happen because that was to guarantee peace talks. given cuba's unwillingness to

turn over these persons who today are negotiating peace with me and who are about to reach a situation where that war would be put to an end, taking advantage of that, duque asked trump to put give on the terrorist list. i'm surprised biden has continued with that. i discussed that topic with him. i discussed the venezuelan question with him, seeking for there to be a progressive, unblocking or removal of blockade at the same time credible guarantees would be given for free and fair elections in venezuela. i very long process. a very slow. poverty -- about the need to at least remove cuba from the list of

countries of terrorism because cuba is helping us to make peace. it is just the opposite of what that list is all about. nonetheless, we have also seen in the u.s. government great sluggishness. and at the end of the day, the biden administration looks like the trump administration. it is leaving certain scars with latin america that i think we need to have healed. we need to overcome them because at the end of the day, both those in the north -- the english speakers in the north and the latinos of the south and the afro descendant people throughout the americas and the indigenous peoples throughout the americas, we all need to understand one another because we have common problems. one of those that i proposed to biden is that as the united states is the largest emitter of co2, we have the greatest sponge

for soaking up co2 in the south, the amazon jungle. and we need to come to an agreement. in south america, great potential for generating clean energy. great potential. and we cannot capture because of the lack of funds. as the united states has a great need, which is also a need of all of humankind to transition to a clean energy, how can we come together? all we need are electrical cable and investments in south america. the money is here, $600 billion, for that objective, but it is much more expensive in the united states because it doesn't have the same potential as what we have in south america, which is where the sun is, the wind is, where the waters are. that complementarity which would

be useful to the united states, which would be useful for south america because those investments would generate economic prosperity and which would be useful for all humanity isn't happening. and all we need is to sit down and engage in dialogue and take action. the scars of history, the invasions from before the old imperialism, the old domination, continue to weigh against humanity. that is why a government such as the biden administration should take this step, close -- let the scars healed. they're not going to go away, but let them heal. and blockades that open up a plural dialogue which i th benen north america and south america. amy: colombian president gustavo petro. coming up, we will talk about the u.s.-backed 1973 coup in chile and his own personal story from m-19 guerrilla to

president of colombia. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. i am amy goodman. as we return to our interview with colombian president gustavo petro, columbus permanent mission to the united nations in new york, i spoke to him shortly after he addressed the united nations general assembly.

you just returned from chile or president porridge and so many thousands of chileans were observing the 50th anniversary of the coup d'état that led to the death of salvador allende, the democratically elected president of chile in the palace september 11, another september 11, september 11, 1973. can you talk about that history of empire as a number of progressive u.s. congress members are calling on the biden administration to release all documents around the u.s. support -- the kissinger support, the president nixon support, i've that coup that led to so many thousand chileans and others dying? >> i was 13 years old at the time of the coup against allende . i was a child.

the mindset at the time in a very conservative country, allende seemed to us to be a sort of -- a man who sought justice and came to power peacefully. the vietnam war was going on. it was set at that time that revolutions had to be armed and that is what was happening in africa. in this man came to power peacefully. we watched on black-and-white tv. then the coup, the brutality, the bombing, the president bombing and the ashes of the presidential palace. and it moved us. i went out into the street. we had no idea -- blocked the street.

helped me move into politics and become who i am from our perspective which is that of allende not of those who carried out the coup against him. and there it was clear the united states had helped those who carried out the coup, the nazis. they were really nazis. that is one of the scars i speak of. and it is fine for that to be evidence for the facts to be known. i went back to the palace 50 years later. boric won and i cried when i was in the palace because that cycle , 50 years, well, really 30 once the coup was carried out against allende, almost all of the progressive movements in latin

america took up arms. we became insurgents. i was an armed insurgent. i was tortured. i was in prison and i resisted until 1990. many did so. dictatorships as well. so latin america became a battlefield between bloody dictatorships and armed revolutions. central america was one of the -- it was a 30 year period. and then as a precursor, the m-19 in colombia in 1989 reached a peace agreement and lay down its weapons. a few much later, there was a vote on the constitutional assembly. we won the elections for the

constitution. but it was a precursor that -- this was a peace process. the idea was one could reach power peacefully and one could have an the twhirl triumph -- electoral try. it was a precursor because it was some years after they elected the first progressive movement. the only place they're still found in colombia and certain parts of the country, [indiscernible] but we accomplished it. today, having closed out weapons and violence, we need to rethink

democracy. there are dangers that crop up. persons insinuating coups in washington. they take over the capitol, which was then repeated in brazil. the gestures in peru with many persons fascinated by the state, by the government which happened in colombia and bolivia. all of this shows that the transition to a more profound among chrissy is not yet assured -- democracy is not yet assured. an area violence i believe the government of the united states since then has not known -- did not know what to do and launched a policy of violence against latin america which also became a boomerang. because at the end of the day, we were not defeated. many people died but we were not defeated. and today we are seeing proposed

by sir progressive movement in the united states and the progressive movement in latin america. instead of setting up flags here or there and organizing coups, instead of preparing ourselves for combat in the andean mountains, we are preparing to engage in dialogue to understand one another. that is an understanding in which someone is standing and the other is kneeling down? no. it is an understanding where we can all talk about problems we share. i believe that is the path which today 50 years after the coup and i spoke -- amy: did you ever think you would go from m-19 guerrilla to president of colombia? >> no, never. i wanted to carry out a

revolution and i still want to do so. it is a different concept. i once helped -- once we put the insurgency behind us, the armed insurgency, i helped the presidential candidates whose votes tended to climb when fully supporting the progressive movement in colombia. entire political party was assassinated in indonesia. 5000 were killed, assassinated in their homes in front of their children without weapons in hand. it helps does to think more we needed to take up arms. we experienced such a violent -- i was scared when i saw pinochet when i was 14, 15 years old, what happened, watching it on television from colombia but now that we have the figures of

persons disappeared, persons assassinated, colombia is by far and away suffered a genocide because also drug trafficking became involved in colombia. it needs to be investigated further. it is another score. -- it is another scar. [indiscernible] the iran contra scandal showed that cocaine was being used to buy weapons for the contra forces. where did that cocaine come from? well, it came out of colombia. that part of the story has not all been told. in one way or another, the colombian drug traffickers believed were let it be known

that -- or let it be known if one were to kill communist, they could export cocaine to the united states and have killed whole political party in colombia and generated a genocide. drug traffickers dressed up as the far right. it wasn't so hard to do so. there was a sort of nazi discourse tied to business the nazis were not familiar with come exporting cocaine to the united states. that whole movement [indiscernible] i did knows that in the course of 10 years of investigation. from there, the crime becomes much stronger, much heavier. [indiscernible]

we had violence that was greater than what i had seen in chile and argentine as a child that terrified me. nonetheless, colombia proposed piece for the first time. the m-19 movement did so in latin america. and achieved a peaceful electoral triumph and made the current constitution of colombia. we have experienced two paths, peace and genocide come at the same time. the deeper the genocide, the more peace becomes necessary. today, for example, the governments in the united states have helped us to build this peace. there's a change in outlook that

has been interesting. thus far in dialogue, drug policy or what is happening with fit no -- fetanyl here. [indiscernible] that was not our war. [indiscernible] it is only because colombian society has strong cultures of

resistance. that is what has enabled society to continue and to continue seeking -- millions of young people voted because they want their country to have possible different path forward. i believe the government of united states -- in united states, a part of society -- [indiscernible] they think one must use the same methods as before. i believe, and i'm optimistic, going forward we are going to be able to find common ground and together adopt solutions.

look at geopolitics today. it is opening up and some of those political leaders in the united states have told me that it is a multipolar world. you have china, russia, iran, the brics. let's get involved there. sort of reaction to u.s. power over history. well, does iran show me a better model of society than what we can build in colombia, respecting its culture? russia, do we want to have the same revolutionary echoes of 1917 or is it just a capitalistic country as the united states, even more plunged into the fossil fuel economy? the world has changed.

it is no longer the cold war. amy: are you concerned will be a coup d'état in guatemala even before the democratically elected president, perhaps i'm in after your own heart burn out or revel oh, takes office because -- bernardo arevelo, takes office because the corporate elite doesn't want to take power? >> [indiscernible] the current president or the current attorney general wanted to take mr. velasquez prisoner, my minister of defense, because he had led the independent commission on corruption and impunity which discover the ties between drug trafficking and politics.

this is not just colombia and guatemala. happened in because drug trafficking became empowered. thate last 50 years. guatemalan society has responded by electing a progressive president. i spoke with him by phone. i do not know him personally. the entire inter-american system of human rights is going to be going to the test. are we going to allow a president who has been elected -- are we going to allow a mockery to made of the popular vote? here we can find progressives from south america and u.s. government can all find common ground, common objective. we going to allow for the popular vote or are we allende going to see a repeat of allende ? amy: colombian president gutavo petro speaking to democracy now! on tuesday at colombia's

permanent mission to the united nations here in new york. an exclusive broadcast interview. it was just after he addressed the u.n. general assembly. we will be posting the full interview on our website in english and in spanish. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]