Latin America

Latin American leaders call out developed countries at UN General Assembly

From far-right Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil to left-leaning presidents in Colombia and Honduras, Latin Americans pointed the finger at the Global North for the climate crisis

gustavo petro un general assembly
Gustavo Petro spoke about how he wants to use education to reduce inequality. Photo: Twitter/@petrogustavo

Latin American leaders took aim at power centers’ role in climate change during their interventions at the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The leading voice on the matter was Colombia’s recently-elected President Gustavo Petro, who centered his whole speech around two issues: the war on drugs and the environment. Mr. Petro argued that the drugs war was “burning down” the Colombian jungle through the use of pesticides, damaging the “main source of carbon dioxide absorption.”

“What’s more dangerous for humanity, cocaine or coal and oil?,” Mr. Petro queried.

“The powers-that-be have decreed that cocaine is the poison that must be attacked, even if most of its deaths are linked to the clandestine world it was forced to operate in. Meanwhile, coal and oil must be protected even if their use can lead to humanity’s extinction. This is the irrational logic of world power,” the recently-elected Colombian president said.

Data from the Global Carbon Project in 2019 shows South America emitting 1.07 billion tons of CO2 from fossil fuels, compared with 5.26 billion tons in the U.S. alone, and only higher than Oceania’s 0.47 billion.

The Colombian president suggested debt reduction schemes as an alternative to help sustain environmental efforts in the Amazonian region, in case direct funding is not made available by financial power centers.

Although no Latin American speaker placed as much emphasis on climate change as Mr. Petro, he was far from alone in his position. Bolivia’s Luis Arce echoed much of Mr. Petro’s sentiment, criticizing the effects of the war on drugs in the...

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