Colombia’s youngest elected president has been sworn in to office, promising to “make corrections” to a peace deal with leftist rebels that has divided the country.

Iván Duque, the 42-year-old protege of a powerful right-wing former president, now faces the task of implementing the historic accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) that ended a half-century of bloody conflict, but which remains on shaky ground.

He will also have to deal with burgeoning coca and cocaine production that has strained relations with key ally Washington and negotiate a peace with a holdout guerrilla army.

“The moment has come for all of us to unite to fight against illegal groups,” Mr Duque said in his inauguration speech to more than a dozen heads of state, promising to get tough on crime, drug trafficking groups and other armed and rebel groups.

The new president said he believed in “the demobilisation, disarmament and reinsertion of the guerrilla base” into society under the accord with the Farc.

But he added that “we will make corrections to ensure that the victims receive truth, proportional justice, reparations and not a repetition” after a conflict that left at least 260,000 dead, some 60,000 missing and millions displaced.

In another nod to conservatives who have demanded tougher negotiation terms with rebel groups, Mr Duque said he will push for a constitutional reform that makes it impossible for the government to grant amnesty to individuals who have been involved in drug trafficking and kidnappings.

Mr Duque will have to lead peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN), a guerrilla army of some 2,000 fighters that began talks with Mr Duque’s predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos.

He said the talks with the ELN will hinge on whether the group ceases its attacks on Colombia’s military and accepts international monitoring.

“We have to construct a culture that respects the rule of law,” Mr Duque said as he spoke on a large blue stage on Bogota’s largest public square.

Mr Duque’s detractors fear he will be little more than a puppet for Alvaro Uribe, the ex-president who led a referendum defeat of the initial version of a peace accord with the Farc rebels.

Mr Uribe is still backed by millions of Colombians, though he is perhaps equally detested by legions who decry human rights abuses during his administration.

On Tuesday, hours before the inauguration ceremony, thousands gathered at public squares in Bogota and a dozen more cities across Colombia to express their opposition to Mr Duque.

At the rallies, protesters bore white flags and signs that called for the preservation of the peace deal.

“We are ready for dialogue,” said opposition senator Ivan Cepeda, one of Mr Duque’s and Mr Uribe’s fiercest critics.

“But we are also ready to mobilise and exert our opposition if he enacts policies that limit people’s rights.”

Mr Duque is taking office as a spate of attacks and the killings of social activists have underlined that peace remains a relative term.

On Monday night, a motorcycle bomb exploded outside a police station in the western province of Cauca.

The ELN last week kidnapped three policemen and a soldier in an attack that highlighted the government’s struggle to bring law and order to Colombia’s most remote areas.

“If Duque is not able to solve this problem and find a way to bring the state into the countryside, we’re going to keep having the same problems we’ve had for decades,” said Jorge Gallego, a professor at Colombia’s Rosario University.

The new president has promised a harder line against drug trafficking that includes bringing back the aerial fumigation of coca crops, a policy that was stopped by Mr Santos’s administration three years ago over health concerns, but is supported by the US government.

Cocaine production has doubled in Colombia over the past two years, according to US government estimates.

Mr Duque has undergone a quick transformation from unknown technocrat to president of South America’s second most populous nation, thanks in large part to the support of Mr Uribe.

Just four years ago, Mr Duque was a Washington suburbanite with a job at an international development bank.

It was there that he developed close ties to MrUribe, assisting the former president when he taught a course at Georgetown University.

In 2014, Mr Uribe propelled Mr Duque into the political limelight when he encouraged him to return to Colombia to run for a Senate seat and placed him on a list of newcomer candidates that he urged his multitude of supporters to elect. – AP</s>Colombia’s youngest elected president has been sworn in to office, promising to “make corrections” to a peace deal with leftist rebels that has divided the country.

Iván Duque, the 42-year-old protege of a powerful right-wing former president, now faces the task of implementing the historic accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) that ended a half-century of bloody conflict, but which remains on shaky ground.

He will also have to deal with burgeoning coca and cocaine production that has strained relations with key ally Washington and negotiate a peace with a holdout guerrilla army.

“The moment has come for all of us to unite to fight against illegal groups,” Mr Duque said in his inauguration speech to more than a dozen heads of state, promising to get tough on crime, drug trafficking groups and other armed and rebel groups.

The new president said he believed in “the demobilisation, disarmament and reinsertion of the guerrilla base” into society under the accord with the Farc.

But he added that “we will make corrections to ensure that the victims receive truth, proportional justice, reparations and not a repetition” after a conflict that left at least 260,000 dead, some 60,000 missing and millions displaced.

In another nod to conservatives who have demanded tougher negotiation terms with rebel groups, Mr Duque said he will push for a constitutional reform that makes it impossible for the government to grant amnesty to individuals who have been involved in drug trafficking and kidnappings.

Mr Duque will have to lead peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN), a guerrilla army of some 2,000 fighters that began talks with Mr Duque’s predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos.

He said the talks with the ELN will hinge on whether the group ceases its attacks on Colombia’s military and accepts international monitoring.

“We have to construct a culture that respects the rule of law,” Mr Duque said as he spoke on a large blue stage on Bogota’s largest public square.

Mr Duque’s detractors fear he will be little more than a puppet for Alvaro Uribe, the ex-president who led a referendum defeat of the initial version of a peace accord with the Farc rebels.

Mr Uribe is still backed by millions of Colombians, though he is perhaps equally detested by legions who decry human rights abuses during his administration.

On Tuesday, hours before the inauguration ceremony, thousands gathered at public squares in Bogota and a dozen more cities across Colombia to express their opposition to Mr Duque.

At the rallies, protesters bore white flags and signs that called for the preservation of the peace deal.

“We are ready for dialogue,” said opposition senator Ivan Cepeda, one of Mr Duque’s and Mr Uribe’s fiercest critics.

“But we are also ready to mobilise and exert our opposition if he enacts policies that limit people’s rights.”

Mr Duque is taking office as a spate of attacks and the killings of social activists have underlined that peace remains a relative term.

On Monday night, a motorcycle bomb exploded outside a police station in the western province of Cauca.

The ELN last week kidnapped three policemen and a soldier in an attack that highlighted the government’s struggle to bring law and order to Colombia’s most remote areas.

“If Duque is not able to solve this problem and find a way to bring the state into the countryside, we’re going to keep having the same problems we’ve had for decades,” said Jorge Gallego, a professor at Colombia’s Rosario University.

The new president has promised a harder line against drug trafficking that includes bringing back the aerial fumigation of coca crops, a policy that was stopped by Mr Santos’s administration three years ago over health concerns, but is supported by the US government.

Cocaine production has doubled in Colombia over the past two years, according to US government estimates.

Mr Duque has undergone a quick transformation from unknown technocrat to president of South America’s second most populous nation, thanks in large part to the support of Mr Uribe.

Just four years ago, Mr Duque was a Washington suburbanite with a job at an international development bank.

It was there that he developed close ties to MrUribe, assisting the former president when he taught a course at Georgetown University.

In 2014, Mr Uribe propelled Mr Duque into the political limelight when he encouraged him to return to Colombia to run for a Senate seat and placed him on a list of newcomer candidates that he urged his multitude of supporters to elect. – AP</s>Bogota, Aug 8 (IANS) Ivan Duque has been swon in as the Colombian President in a ceremony held on the Plaza de Bolivar here.

The Conservative political newcomer, who at 42 is the youngest Colombian President ever, was elected in June after a divisive election campaign where he saw off left-wing rival Gustavo Petro, BBC reported.

After taking his oath, Duque, who succeeds two-term President Juan Manuel Santos, administered the oath of office to his Vice President, Marta Lucia Ramirez, the first woman in Colombia’s history to take that office.

In his inaugural address on Tuesday, the former lawyer pledged to tackle corruption and invigorate the economy and said that he wants to overcome the ideological divisions and the social fragmentation existing in the country.

“I want to govern Colombia with unbreakable values and principles, overcoming with popular dialogue, the divisions of the left and the right and the prickly feelings that invite social fracture. I want to govern Colombia with a spirit to build, never to destroy,” President Duque said.

He also vowed to change the peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) rebel group.

His political platform is considered business-friendly after he pledged to cut taxes and boost investment in Colombia’s economy.

The new President assumes power at a time of heightened tension with neighbour Venezuela. Earlier this week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the outgoing Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos of an assassination attempt at a military event in Caracas.

The allegation was described as “baseless” by Bogota.</s>Colombia Reports is calling on readers and supporters of independent journalism for support. We are going to need it in the coming four years.

We have depended on the voluntary contributions of readers since May last year when advertising revenue had dropped to the point it barely paid our utilities bill.

The overwhelming response to our cry for help saved us from bankruptcy and has kept us afloat since then. It has even amplified our freedom to tell stories that are generally ignored for commercial reasons.

Also, your contributions have allowed us to report on the issues that are important for Colombia, but generally do not make it through the threshold of foreign newsrooms.

When there are big news events like a massacre or the annual release of the United Nations’ report on coca cultivation you can rely on foreign news media like the BBC or the New York Times for coverage like always.

But when both the UN and the United States government omit to release their annual statistics on coca cultivation and avoid inconvenient headlines, we can step in and inform you using our local sources.

You could consider our role as local journalists complementary to what is done by our colleagues in newsrooms in London and New York City, but a consistent monitor of what is going on in Colombia is more than that.

The ongoing peace process requires reporting that goes beyond the occasional massacre. War provides simple, almost binary narratives about one side killing the other side. Peace processes are complex because they deal with the causes of violence and involves society in all its plurality.

The causes of the violence must be reported on, especially because this violence persists and incoming President Ivan Duque seems to find both truth and justice politically inconvenient.

The pending criminal cases against former President Alvaro Uribe, the military and the FARC must be reported on.

The gradual emerging of the truth about the conflict after decades of war propaganda must be reported on.

The state of Colombia’s social fabric in a post-conflict period must be reported on.

Colombia Reports has more than 10 years of experience in reporting on this country and finds itself in the unique position to monitor a peace process that can serve as a reference for future peace process.

However, we are working under rather adverse circumstances.

We are terrified by the rapid increase in assassinations of social leaders. We are concerned about the growing number of death threats against our Colombian colleagues. We reject and oppose these attacks against democracy, free speech, and the lives and integrity of our sources and colleagues.

We need your support to do this. We need both the financial and moral backing of our audience in order to stay safe, sane and uncensored.

If you are not yet a friend of Colombia Reports, please become one. If you are broke, keep sending us those beautiful emails or join our editorial board. If you’re not broke, please support us for $5 a month.

Four more years of Colombia Reports was last modified: by</s>Image copyright AFP Image caption He became Colombia's youngest elected leader after being sworn in at Bogota's Bolivar Square

Colombia's newly-elected President Iván Duque took office on Tuesday, pledging to unite the country and improve economic growth.

The conservative political newcomer was elected in June after a divisive election campaign where he saw off left-wing rival Gustavo Petro.

In his inaugural address, the former lawyer pledged changes to tackle corruption and invigorate the economy.

The leader has also vowed to change the peace deal with the Farc rebel group.

The outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos has urged Mr Duque to respect the deal, which was negotiated in 2016 to bring an end to the country's brutal five-decade civil conflict.

The Farc, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is now a political party known as the Revolutionary Alternative Common Force. A number of its members took up seats in parliament last month as part of the terms which guarantee it political representation.

Mr Duque has said he remains committed to Colombia's peace process, but says that it is too lenient on former guerrilla fighters accused of war crimes.

"We will deploy corrective measures to ensure that the victims get the truth, proportional justice, reparations and no repetitions of the past," the new president said in his address on Tuesday.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Official photographs were released of the new president and his family

Mr Duque also spoke about the need to heal the country after a divisive election campaign earlier this year.

The Centro Democrático (Democratic Centre) party candidate beat opponent Gustavo Petro by 12 points in June - winning the run-off election with 54% of the final vote.

"I want to govern Colombia with unbreakable values and principles, overcoming the divisions of left and right, overcoming with popular dialogue the prickly feelings that invite social fracture, I want to govern Colombia with a spirit to build, never to destroy," President Duque said in his address.

His political platform is considered business-friendly after he pledged to cut taxes and boost investment in Colombia's economy.

Mr Duque, who at 42 is the youngest Colombian to be president in the modern era, was handpicked as party leader by founder Álvaro Uribe Velez, who himself was president from 2002 to 2010.

Mr Uribe remains active in politics, but resigned from his senate seat in July to face a bribery and fraud investigation in the Supreme Court.

Mr Duque's running mate, Marta Lucía Ramirez, has become the country's first ever female vice-president.

The new president assumes power at a time of heightened tension with neighbours Venezuela. Earlier this week President Nicolas Maduro accused the outgoing Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos of being responsible for an apparent attempt to assassinate him at a military event in Caracas.

The allegation was described as "baseless" by Bogota.</s>Right-winger Ivan Duque was inaugurated President of Colombia on Tuesday amid a wave of protests demanding an end to guerrilla and paramilitary violence.

In the presence of local politicians and representatives of 17 countries, Duque took oath at the Bolivar Square in central Bogota.

Meanwhile, thousands gathered elsewhere in Bogota and in other cities across Colombia to demand an end to violence that has killed on average one social leader per day since Duque’s election in June.

Inauguration of Colombia’s new president marred by protests

Duque, 42, is a neoconservative member of the country’s highly exclusive ruling class. The president is a protege of former Presidents Juan Manuel Santos and Alvaro Uribe.

As the country’s 48th head of state, Duque vowed to base his policy on “legality, entrepreneurship and equity” and has called in experienced executives, other dynasty politicians and personal friends of Uribe to run the country until 2022.

Duque’s formal swearing in was preceded by nationalistic homages to the military, the multiple peoples that make up Colombia and the country’s rich folkloric traditions.

Controversially, far-right Congress President Ernesto Macias paid a lengthy tribute to Uribe, who is investigated by the Supreme Court for his alleged involvement in the creation of a paramilitary death squad that left thousands of victims.

Macias, an ally of both Duque and Uribe, saved no superlatives to paint a bleak picture of the state of the country, and called on Duque to recover Uribe’s legacy. The congress president fiercely criticized Santos, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to make peace after decades of internal armed conflict.

Following Macias’ vindictive speech, Duque said he would “govern without hatred” after decades of drug-fueled political violence that continues to bitterly divide Colombia as demonstrated by the protests and the speech of the president of Congress.

The president is expected to remain in office until 2022.

Ivan Duque sworn in as president of a bitterly divided Colombia was last modified: by</s>Bogota, Aug 7 (EFE).- Attorney Ivan Duque on Tuesday took the oath of office as Colombia’s president for the next four years in a ceremony held on the Plaza de Bolivar in central Bogota.



“I swear by God and before the Colombian people to defend the Constitution and the laws of Colombia,” said Duque as part of the oath administered to him by the head of the Senate, Ernesto Macias, who subsequently bestowed on him the presidential sash with the colors of the national flag.



Following Duque’s inauguration, he then administered the oath of office to his vice president, Marta Lucia Ramirez, the first women in Colombia’s history to take that office, whom he then congratulated with an embrace and whom the crowd honored with hearty applause.



The inauguration ceremony was attended by about 4,000 invited guests, including 10 Latin American heads of state and representatives from another 17 countries around the world, including the speaker of Spain’s lower house of Parliament, Ana Pastor.



Duque said in his inauguration speech that he wants – through dialogue – to overcome the ideological divisions and the social fragmentation that exist among his countrymen.



“I want to govern Colombia with unshakeable values and principles, overcoming the divisions of left and right, overcoming with public dialogue the brusque sentiments that invite social fragmentation. I want to govern Colombia with the spirit of building, never destroying,” he said.



The country’s ideological polarization was evident in the recent election in which Duque, with the rightist Democratic Center, triumphed with more than 10 million votes over leftist Gustavo Petro, who received the support of eight million voters in one of the most inflammatory campaigns in the country’s history.



The new president promised that the victims of Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict will not be attacked anew by impunity for their aggressors.



He added that the “structural failures” that have become evident in the implementation of the November 2016 peace pact with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels will be corrected to guarantee to the victims of the violence “truth, proportional justice, reparations and no repetition” of the crimes.



The new head of state also devoted a portion of his remarks to the guerrillas who laid down their arms as per the pact they signed with Santos.



“I believe in the demobilization, disarmament and the reinsertion (into society) of the guerrilla base,” Duque said.</s>Attorney Ivan Duque on Tuesday took the oath of office as Colombia's president for the next four years in a ceremony held on the Plaza de Bolivar in central Bogota.

"I swear by God and before the Colombian people to defend the Constitution and the laws of Colombia," said Duque as part of the oath administered to him by the head of the Senate, Ernesto Macias, who subsequently bestowed on him the presidential sash with the colors of the national flag.</s>Thousands of protesters peacefully marched in Colombia against the surge in activist deaths in the country – and the inauguration of President Ivan Duque.

As Duque was sworn into the presidential palace, concerned citizens took to the streets to express discontent over the country’s current situation.

Ivan Duque sworn in as president of a bitterly divided Colombia

The main protest was in Bogota where thousands called for an end to the violence the Andean Nation is experiencing.

Duque’s opposition candidate in the July election, leftist Gustavo Petro, led protests in the capital.

In Medellin, thousands of people took to the streets, with students wearing pig masks to mock the new president – an idea originating from a newspaper cartoonist.

Local media reported there were far more protesters in the city of Cali, with newspaper El Pais estimating that over 16,000 people were on the streets.

Protests were also seen in the cities of Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cartagena and Santa Marta.

The “March for Life” protests were a call for action over the surge in activist deaths in the country.

Since 2016 – the year the historic peace deal was signed – over 311 social leaders have been murdered.

The government is yet express a strategy for dealing with the violence.

Students from the University of Antioquia in Medellin said they were worried about the increase of killings – and the fact ex-president Uribe’s protege was being sworn into office.

“We are scared that things will return to the way they were when Uribe was in power,” said 20-year-old Laura Diez, who was taking part in the march.

“Under him [Uribe], the country saw a lot of violence – with the ‘false positives‘ scandal and paramilitary violence. We don’t want it to return to that.”

Andres Muñoz, 24, added: “It will be a return to the same political system as before. I’m very worried to have an Uribista in power.

“The killings need to be stopped.”

And 62-year-old mechanic Jorge Torres said: “We are here to tell the government there should not be any more murders.”

“I’m fearful about the new government. The new president will be a puppet.”

‘They are killing us’: Colombia’s social leaders cry for help

Protestors in Medellin chanted in support of the leftist opponent who was beaten by Duque in July’s election while others shouted insults about the new president.

Demonstrations were also seen outside of Colombia, including in Miami, New York City and Valencia in Spain.

People gathered yesterday in Colombia’s parks to light candles as a mark of respect for those who have been killed.

Since the start of this year to July, over 123 social leaders have been murdered.

The United Nations has urged the Colombian authorities to do more to help activists, who are often targeted in lawless, rural parts of the country.

Inauguration of Colombia’s new president marred by protests was last modified: by</s>The 42-year-old conservative lawyer and former senator won an election in June, beating left-wing rival Gustavo Petro, and now replaces outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos.

“I want to govern Colombia with unbreakable values and principles, overcoming left and right divisions,” Duque said in his inaugural address in Bogota. “I want to govern Colombia with the spirit of building, never destroying.”

He faces immediate challenges: the economy is weak, drug trafficking gangs have moved into areas once controlled by FARC guerrillas, and nearly a million Venezuelan refugees have crossed into Colombia. Tensions with Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro have increased.

Duque has strongly criticised the peace deal negotiated in 2016 to bring an end to the country’s 50-year internal conflict, which saw thousands of rebels demobilise in return for amnesty. Although the FARC leadership will be tried for war crimes, he is angry they will not serve jail time before taking up 10 guaranteed congressional seats.

However, he has softened his rhetoric and says he remains committed to Colombia’s peace process. “We will deploy corrective measures to ensure that the victims get the truth, proportional justice, reparations and no repetitions of the past,” he said in his address.

The FARC is now a political party and several members have taken seats in parliament as part of the peace terms.

The new president has not specified what changes he would make to the agreement. Substantive measures might be hard to get through Congress which has broadly backed the deal. Santos has urged his successor to respect it.

Duque can count on continued support from the United States, said the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.

His economic policy is considered business-friendly: the new leader has said he plans to cut taxes, raise revenue from a crackdown on evasion, and respect rules obliging the government to reduce the budget deficit.

Ivan Duque is a protege of Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe, who led the country from 2002 to 2010 and is a harsh critic of the peace agreement.
Iván Duque Márquez is sworn in as new President of Colombia.