Brazil’s Foreign Ministry congratulated Gustavo Petro (left) on Tuesday two days after his presidential victory in Colombia, but his far-right counterpart Jair Bolsonaro has still not conveyed his wishes.
• Read also: The relatives of the new president of Colombia have gone into exile in Montreal
• Read also: Gustavo Petro elected first left-wing president in Colombia’s history
“The government congratulates Senator Gustavo Petro on his election as President of Colombia,” reads a brief statement from the ministry.
“We wish him success in the exercise of his functions and the Brazilian government renews its commitment to the continued deepening of bilateral relations with Colombia, for the well-being, prosperity, democracy and freedom of our peoples”, continues the text.
Gustavo Petro, 62, became Colombia’s first left-wing president on Sunday.
Unlike other senior leaders in the region, who reacted shortly after the announcement of the results, Jair Bolsonaro has still not congratulated him on his election.
One of his sons, MP Eduardo Bolsonaro, posted on Twitter on Sunday a map of South America with a hammer and sickle, a symbol of communism, over Colombia, as well as Argentina, Chile, Bolivia , Peru and Venezuela, also ruled by the left.
“The responsibility of the Brazilian voter only increases. Not just for Brazil, but for the whole region”, he wrote, an allusion to the October presidential election, for which his father is in an unfavorable position in the polls against the left-wing ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
