[1] Petro who previously served as mayor of Bogotá, took office after his victory in the 2022 presidential election over the self-proclaimed "anti-corruption leader" Rodolfo Hernández.

[2] According to the political scientist Paca Zuleta, "the discontent over the economic crisis, it seems to me, was channeled together with a speech about combating poverty and not responding in the way that his detractors expected".

[19] [20] On 8 September, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Irene Veléz, had what she called a meeting to listen to the companies that provide the service, the unions, the mayors and other actors with the aim of establishing a path towards stabilizing the main anguish of Caribbean citizenship.

[21] The minister insisted that there is another Colombia that has different and no less worrying challenges: "It is about the more than 500 thousand families that still do not have access to energy at the national level"[22] On 28 October, during his visit to the municipality of Bosconia, César[23] Petro declared this measure a state of National Emergency to allocate the economic resources that remain from this year's budget to face emergencies immediately, according to Petro.

[24] "Cesar lives a paradox that focuses on the climate crisis, I said it in my electoral campaign, here you suffer but this region also produces the chemicals that generate this pollution: coal".

He thinks that it is very difficult for Colombia to give up the generation of fossil fuels in the short term, it is very complex because it is the main economic support of the country.

What we can gain, from Colombia, with the insistence on the urgency of the Petro changes is that Ecopetrol increase efforts for the transition, which is something in which this country has a lot of potential.

[29] On 20 January 2023, he traveled to Davos, Switzerland to participate in the World Economic Forum, where at the end of his speech at the Petro he spoke about the intentions of the national government to lead an energy transition that allows the development of other industries, like tourism.

The president stated that one of the steps to take is to invest in the tourism sector, "we are convinced that, with a strong investment in tourism, given the beauty of the country, and the capacity and potential that the country has in generating clean energy, could perfectly, in a short term, in a transition, fill the gaps that the fossil economy can leave", said the Head of State when closing his speech at the Davos Forum.

[41][42] On 17 December, President Gustavo Petro commented to various media outlets that the National Government is contemplating the idea of renewing the fleet of combat aircraft of the Colombian Air Force.

I believe that the wives of the current pilots are going to thank me very much, because in reality it was already dangerous to climb on those devices", said Gustavo Petro in the middle of the promotion ceremony for officers of the Military Forces.

[47] Peace talks with the ELN were finally resumed at the end of November 2022, with the first set of meetings taking place in Venezuela, after the restoration of diplomatic contacts between the two countries.

[54][55] At the beginning of June a major breakthrough in the negotiations between the government and the ELN occurred, leading to a six-month long ceasefire between the two parties, starting from 3 August 2023.

[56] The signing ceremony took place on 9 June in Havana, in the presence of Gustavo Petro, the ELN commander Antonio García and the Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel.

[56] Concomitantly on 2 June, several urban gang leaders, who are currently imprisoned in high-security prisons, announced their readiness to further dialogue with the government negotiation team.

[46] On 6 February 2023, Petro announced the details of his four-year development law package, which would invest $247 billion to reduce the percentage of the population living in extreme poverty, redistribute surpluses from fossile energy sources to the renewable energy transition, and institute a land reform to increase the agricultural output, covering nearly 3 million hectares of land to be allotted to poor farmers, if passed.

[67] Senator María José Pizarro cited reduced crime, health benefits to consumers and approximately $400m in tax revenue as major motivations for the new law.

It is expected that around 9:30 am, the Colombian president will begin his speech at the lectern of the UN headquarters, Petro raised the need to create a large common fund to save the Amazon.

[citation needed] In his speech he said that: “to destroy the coca plant they throw poisons, glyphosate en masse that runs through the waters, they arrest their growers and imprison them.

[citation needed] On 20 April 2023, he met with the president of the United States, Joe Biden, at the White House,[70] where topics such as decarbonization, the construction of a green economy in America, and electrical transmission at the continental level were discussed.

[71] Among the conclusions, the United States promised an investment of US$500 million for the Amazon Fund, as part of the efforts of the two nations to face climate change.

With this contribution, the United States would be one of the largest donors to this international conservation program, which was established during the previous term of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation.

[77] In 2020, Petro claimed that if Colombia reestablished diplomatic relations, cut off by Maduro, and sold food to Venezuela, Venezuelan immigration would cease.

[86][87] Guaidó reproached the lack of recognition of his interim government, and responded in a press conference: "I would have expected that his first decision would not have been to approach one who today shelters world terrorism in Venezuela".

[88] On 28 September 2022, Colombia's ambassador to the Organization of American States, Luis Ernesto Vargas, declared that he would condemn human rights violations in Nicaragua when necessary, but that he would prioritize the integration of the countries in the region.

It concluded with very few results, although it came to three conclusions: the need for an electoral schedule to be established in Venezuela, that the agreements between chavismo and the opposition be accompanied by the lifting of sanctions, and that the resumption of the dialogue process in Mexico go in parallel with the creation of a fund for social investment in the country, as agreed in November 2023.

[106][107] Days later, the Government of Colombia, through a statement made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Álvaro Leyva, responded "We were programming the sending of the Colombian ambassador to Managua, but I understand that they are not liking the last position".

Velásquez served in that country as head of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala until the beginning of 2019 when he was expelled by President Jimmy Morales, along with other investigators.

[118][119] On 2 May 2023 he made his first official state visit to Spain,[120] in the company of his wife, the first lady, Verónica Alcocer,[121] and some members of the cabinet, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs Álvaro Leyva, the Colombian ambassador to Spain, Eduardo Ávila, the Chief of Staff, Laura Sarabia, and the Ministers of Mines and Energy, Irene Vélez, of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Germán Umaña, and of Education, Aurora Vergara.

On Thursday, 10 August 2023, he received the President of Switzerland, Alain Berset, at the Casa de Nariño, where they signed an agreement in order to safeguard the fund, a digital copy of the documentary collection of the Commission for the Clarification of the Truth in Swiss.