Gustavo Petro celebrated the International Day of Peace from New York

The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, indicated his commitment to ending the conflict in Colombia on the occasion of the International Day of Peace, which was celebrated on Wednesday, September 21st. He did so at the bottom of the Cosicausi – which in Quechua means “new life and adventure” – a piece created by Colombian artist Mario Obazo that has been placed since August 2019 in the Sculpture Garden at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, along the Hudson River.

Petro highlighted that the statue is in the form of an original boat and was forged with weapons and ammunition from ex-combatants of the FARC-EP, after the peace and demobilization process in 2016. This weapon was melted down and turned into the piece that was given to the United Nations, without A sensation, given the attitude to that process that the then President of Colombia, Ivan Duque Marquez, dealt with.

Kusikawsay is the second of the three agreed milestones under the peace process. The first, Fragmentos, is located in Bogotá. The third, which will be in Havana (Cuba), the place of the talks, was not implemented due to problems in relations with that country during the government of Ivan Duque.

“Today is the International Day of Peace. It means a lot today: it means that Colombia can, that means that peace is possible, and that means that we can melt weapons so that hearts can flourish,” the president emphasized.

Alvaro Leyva Durán, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, sent another message regarding the International Day of Peace besides the metal sculpture. “This monument tells him a lot about the country: laying down arms and the possibility of full peace,” he stressed. He also said that his goal in visiting Kusikawsay with Petro was, specifically, “to make him known to the entire public. So far it has been neglectedbut it is an essential symbol and we refer to it on the International Day of Peace (sic), which draws attention and is celebrated.”

The foreign minister stressed the importance of the presence of this metal boat at the United Nations Headquarters, an entity “created in the light of history precisely to bury wars once and for all.”

Finally, Leyva called on all Colombians to commit to the goal of achieving comprehensive peace, a goal he described as “entirely possible” and to be pursued “even beyond borders.”

On the twenty-first of September every year, the International Day of Peace is celebrated.. according to United nationsHistory aims to advance the ideals of peace by observing nonviolence and cease-fires. In 1981, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed September 21 as a date dedicated to remembering, at the national and international levels, one of the core values ​​that make up the Organization: The pursuit and consolidation of peace.

“The General Assembly declares that the third Tuesday of September, the opening day of the Ordinary Session, shall be solemnly proclaimed and celebrated as the International Day of Peace, and shall be devoted to the commemoration and promotion of peace in every nation and every people,” the error report reads.

For 2001, only two decades later, the Assembly reissued a resolution supplementing International Day of Peace How Ceasefire and Nonviolence Day at the global level, so that all nations and societies feel motivated to suspend any kind of hostilities.

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