Gustavo Petro to travel to New York to meet Mayor Zohran Mamdani

Gustavo Petro is scheduled to travel to New York on June 12 to meet with New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani. The meeting will occur shortly after Colombia’s presidential election, with a possible runoff on June 21 and inauguration on August 7. The event, titled “Dignity in Democracy,” will address how the left can combat inequality and strengthen democracy. It will be Mamdani’s first hosting of a head of state since taking office. Petro and Mamdani previously met during Petro’s visit for the United Nations General Assembly last September. The agenda will also cover the growing power of oligarchy, including how billionaires and corporations influence housing, health care, transportation, media, and democracy itself, and how they can pit working people against one another.

"The meeting in New York will take the form of an event titled Dignity in Democracy, convened to answer the question of how the left can combat inequality and strengthen democracy. It will be the first time Mamdani has hosted a head of state since assuming the office of mayor. The two leaders had already met during Petro's visit to the city for the United Nations General Assembly last September, when Mamdani was still a candidate."

"The Colombian president celebrated his electoral victory a little more than a month later with a message on X that read: The people of New York deserve their Statue of Liberty. The growing power of the oligarchy will be another key item on the agenda at their meeting. Around the world, billionaires and corporations tighten their grip on housing, health care, transportation, media even democracy itself, explains Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of International Affairs in New York City Ana Maria Archila."

"Born in Colombia, Archila has focused since her February appointment on deepening relations with foreign leaders who share Mamdani's worldview. Those with the most seek to deepen their power by turning working people against one another, she says. They ask us to blame migrants for falling wages instead of bosses who exploit labor."

Read at english.elpais.com