Inauguration of Gustavo Petro

Presidential Inauguration of
Gustavo Petro
	Presidential Inaguration Ceremony
Date	7 August 2022; 2 years ago
Time	3:00 pm (COST)
Location	National Capitol; Bogotá, D.C.
Participants	Gustavo Petro; 34th President of Colombia; — Assuming office; Francia Márquez; 19th Vice President of Colombia; — Assuming office; Roy Barreras; President of Congress; — Administering oath; Iván Duque; 33th President of Colombia; — Leaving office

Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez inaugurated as 34th President of Colombia and 19th Vice President of Colombia, respectively, on 7 August 2022, in a ceremony held in the National Capitol of Colombia in Bogotá, beginning the presidency of Gustavo Petro.

Planning

For this occasion, the presidential inauguration ceremony had a lower budget than the previous one, this was proposed by the president-elect Gustavo Petro, who assured that his presidential ceremony would be austere in benevolence to inflation due to the covid health crisis, among others.

The planning committee in charge, together with the new incoming government, agreed that they would not use pompous and so-called unnecessary elements, such as rugs and pennants for the 6 columns of the national capitol, instead they used tropical flowers such as begonias and the popular orchids, in the case of the flags of the 32 departments of Colombia, mandatory elements as dictated by tradition and protocol, were replaced by traditional Colombian flower saddles that had a respective flag made of flowers in the center of this, in total 32 silletas each with the flags of the 32 departments and the capital district were located all the way from the san carlos palace that led to the plaza de Bolívar^[1]

Schedule

The inauguration ceremony began at 2:30 p.m., when Petro, his wife, Véronica Alcocer, and their childrens, as is customary, left the San Carlos Palace for the Plaza de Bolívar of the National Capitol escorted by ten pipers from the Colombian Navy. After leaving the official residence, dozens of supporters were waiting for him at the entrance, with Colombian flags while chanting slogans. Meanwhile, Francia Márquez, her husband, and their children made their entrance to the Plaza de Bolívar, the convoy arrived at the plaza minutes later.

During the parade, Petro and Véronica greeted the public. While their children followed the couple on their presidential walk. Andrea, eldest daughter of Petro and his first wife, was placed second accompanied by their daughters, in the back were Sofía, Nicolas and Antonella, and lastly, Nicolas and his wife Natalia.^[2]

Once Petro and his family arrived at the Plaza de Bolívar, president of the Senate Roy Barreras read his speech and immediately called María José Pizarro^[3] who, accompanied by the latter, prepared to impose the presidential sash and as a next act proceeded to the swearing in of Francia Márquez as vice president before thousands of spectators,^[4] the respective presidents of the Senate and the president of the Chamber of Representatives, former presidents and other guests.

After signing the investiture act, Petro delivered his first speech as the new Colombian head of state. In his first act as president, he demanded from the head of the military house of the house of Nariño, the presence of the sword of Bolívar, symbol of the emancipation of the so-called Bolivarian countries, which he had previously stolen during his instance in the revolutionary movement M-19.^[5]

Once his speech of almost half an hour was over, Petro and his family went to the House of Nariño where, as tradition dictates, the outgoing President Ivan Duque and his wife María Juliana Ruiz were waiting at the door, and immediately afterwards Petro greeted the members of the military who were waiting for him at the gates at the entrance to the house of nariño, moving through the main square to the steps of the house of nariño where he prepared to greet the outgoing presidential couple, as the next act petro in the company of his family settled at the top of the stairs, while ivan duque and his wife went down the stairs to take the traditional last walk in the company of his cabinet through the main square during these moments the band of the presidential guard I sing the salute to the traditional anthem flag to salute the Colombian head of state.^[6]

Television broadcast

Colombian broadcasters coverage

Presence of world leaders

22 foreign delegations travelled to Bogota for the president inauguration. In the House of Nariño, the President, the Vice President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs greeted the following:^[7]