Ivan Duque is the new President of Colombia, winning Sunday's election with fifty-three percent of the vote in the South American country. </s> Attorney Ivan Duque on Tuesday took the oath of office as Colombia's president for the next four years in a ceremony held on the Plaza de Bolivar in central Bogota.

"I swear by God and before the Colombian people to defend the Constitution and the laws of Colombia," said Duque as part of the oath administered to him by the head of the Senate, Ernesto Macias, who subsequently bestowed on him the presidential sash with the colors of the national flag. </s> Bogota, Aug 8 (IANS) Ivan Duque has been swon in as the Colombian President in a ceremony held on the Plaza de Bolivar here.

The Conservative political newcomer, who at 42 is the youngest Colombian President ever, was elected in June after a divisive election campaign where he saw off left-wing rival Gustavo Petro, BBC reported.

After taking his oath, Duque, who succeeds two-term President Juan Manuel Santos, administered the oath of office to his Vice President, Marta Lucia Ramirez, the first woman in Colombia’s history to take that office.

In his inaugural address on Tuesday, the former lawyer pledged to tackle corruption and invigorate the economy and said that he wants to overcome the ideological divisions and the social fragmentation existing in the country.

“I want to govern Colombia with unbreakable values and principles, overcoming with popular dialogue, the divisions of the left and the right and the prickly feelings that invite social fracture. I want to govern Colombia with a spirit to build, never to destroy,” President Duque said.

He also vowed to change the peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) rebel group.

His political platform is considered business-friendly after he pledged to cut taxes and boost investment in Colombia’s economy.

The new President assumes power at a time of heightened tension with neighbour Venezuela. Earlier this week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the outgoing Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos of an assassination attempt at a military event in Caracas.

The allegation was described as “baseless” by Bogota. </s> Right-winger Ivan Duque was inaugurated President of Colombia on Tuesday amid a wave of protests demanding an end to guerrilla and paramilitary violence.

In the presence of local politicians and representatives of 17 countries, Duque took oath at the Bolivar Square in central Bogota.

Meanwhile, thousands gathered elsewhere in Bogota and in other cities across Colombia to demand an end to violence that has killed on average one social leader per day since Duque’s election in June.

Inauguration of Colombia’s new president marred by protests

Duque, 42, is a neoconservative member of the country’s highly exclusive ruling class. The president is a protege of former Presidents Juan Manuel Santos and Alvaro Uribe.

As the country’s 48th head of state, Duque vowed to base his policy on “legality, entrepreneurship and equity” and has called in experienced executives, other dynasty politicians and personal friends of Uribe to run the country until 2022.

Duque’s formal swearing in was preceded by nationalistic homages to the military, the multiple peoples that make up Colombia and the country’s rich folkloric traditions.

Controversially, far-right Congress President Ernesto Macias paid a lengthy tribute to Uribe, who is investigated by the Supreme Court for his alleged involvement in the creation of a paramilitary death squad that left thousands of victims.

Macias, an ally of both Duque and Uribe, saved no superlatives to paint a bleak picture of the state of the country, and called on Duque to recover Uribe’s legacy. The congress president fiercely criticized Santos, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to make peace after decades of internal armed conflict.

Following Macias’ vindictive speech, Duque said he would “govern without hatred” after decades of drug-fueled political violence that continues to bitterly divide Colombia as demonstrated by the protests and the speech of the president of Congress.

The president is expected to remain in office until 2022.

Ivan Duque sworn in as president of a bitterly divided Colombia was last modified: by </s> Bogota, Aug 7 (EFE).- Attorney Ivan Duque on Tuesday took the oath of office as Colombia’s president for the next four years in a ceremony held on the Plaza de Bolivar in central Bogota.



“I swear by God and before the Colombian people to defend the Constitution and the laws of Colombia,” said Duque as part of the oath administered to him by the head of the Senate, Ernesto Macias, who subsequently bestowed on him the presidential sash with the colors of the national flag.



Following Duque’s inauguration, he then administered the oath of office to his vice president, Marta Lucia Ramirez, the first women in Colombia’s history to take that office, whom he then congratulated with an embrace and whom the crowd honored with hearty applause.



The inauguration ceremony was attended by about 4,000 invited guests, including 10 Latin American heads of state and representatives from another 17 countries around the world, including the speaker of Spain’s lower house of Parliament, Ana Pastor.



Duque said in his inauguration speech that he wants – through dialogue – to overcome the ideological divisions and the social fragmentation that exist among his countrymen.



“I want to govern Colombia with unshakeable values and principles, overcoming the divisions of left and right, overcoming with public dialogue the brusque sentiments that invite social fragmentation. I want to govern Colombia with the spirit of building, never destroying,” he said.



The country’s ideological polarization was evident in the recent election in which Duque, with the rightist Democratic Center, triumphed with more than 10 million votes over leftist Gustavo Petro, who received the support of eight million voters in one of the most inflammatory campaigns in the country’s history.



The new president promised that the victims of Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict will not be attacked anew by impunity for their aggressors.



He added that the “structural failures” that have become evident in the implementation of the November 2016 peace pact with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels will be corrected to guarantee to the victims of the violence “truth, proportional justice, reparations and no repetition” of the crimes.



The new head of state also devoted a portion of his remarks to the guerrillas who laid down their arms as per the pact they signed with Santos.



“I believe in the demobilization, disarmament and the reinsertion (into society) of the guerrilla base,” Duque said. </s> RAMALLAH, August 8, 2018 (WAFA) - Outgoing Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, in presence of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Aría Ángela Holguín, handed an official letter from the foreign minister to Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki stating that "the President of the Republic of Colombia has decided to recognize the State of Palestine."

The recognition came days before the end of President Santos’ term in office, and before the newly-elected president, Ivan Duque, assumes office. The step was approved by the newly-elected president, Duque.

This decision came following years of intensive efforts exerted by the Palestinian foreign ministry, represented by Malki, as well as by Palestine’s diplomatic mission in Colombia.

Colombia was the only South American country that did not yet recognize the State of Palestine.

T.R. </s> Colombia’s youngest elected president has been sworn in to office, promising to “make corrections” to a peace deal with leftist rebels that has divided the country.

Iván Duque, the 42-year-old protege of a powerful right-wing former president, now faces the task of implementing the historic accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) that ended a half-century of bloody conflict, but which remains on shaky ground.

He will also have to deal with burgeoning coca and cocaine production that has strained relations with key ally Washington and negotiate a peace with a holdout guerrilla army.

“The moment has come for all of us to unite to fight against illegal groups,” Mr Duque said in his inauguration speech to more than a dozen heads of state, promising to get tough on crime, drug trafficking groups and other armed and rebel groups.

The new president said he believed in “the demobilisation, disarmament and reinsertion of the guerrilla base” into society under the accord with the Farc.

But he added that “we will make corrections to ensure that the victims receive truth, proportional justice, reparations and not a repetition” after a conflict that left at least 260,000 dead, some 60,000 missing and millions displaced.

In another nod to conservatives who have demanded tougher negotiation terms with rebel groups, Mr Duque said he will push for a constitutional reform that makes it impossible for the government to grant amnesty to individuals who have been involved in drug trafficking and kidnappings.

Mr Duque will have to lead peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN), a guerrilla army of some 2,000 fighters that began talks with Mr Duque’s predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos.

He said the talks with the ELN will hinge on whether the group ceases its attacks on Colombia’s military and accepts international monitoring.

“We have to construct a culture that respects the rule of law,” Mr Duque said as he spoke on a large blue stage on Bogota’s largest public square.

Mr Duque’s detractors fear he will be little more than a puppet for Alvaro Uribe, the ex-president who led a referendum defeat of the initial version of a peace accord with the Farc rebels.

Mr Uribe is still backed by millions of Colombians, though he is perhaps equally detested by legions who decry human rights abuses during his administration.

On Tuesday, hours before the inauguration ceremony, thousands gathered at public squares in Bogota and a dozen more cities across Colombia to express their opposition to Mr Duque.

At the rallies, protesters bore white flags and signs that called for the preservation of the peace deal.

“We are ready for dialogue,” said opposition senator Ivan Cepeda, one of Mr Duque’s and Mr Uribe’s fiercest critics.

“But we are also ready to mobilise and exert our opposition if he enacts policies that limit people’s rights.”

Mr Duque is taking office as a spate of attacks and the killings of social activists have underlined that peace remains a relative term.

On Monday night, a motorcycle bomb exploded outside a police station in the western province of Cauca.

The ELN last week kidnapped three policemen and a soldier in an attack that highlighted the government’s struggle to bring law and order to Colombia’s most remote areas.

“If Duque is not able to solve this problem and find a way to bring the state into the countryside, we’re going to keep having the same problems we’ve had for decades,” said Jorge Gallego, a professor at Colombia’s Rosario University.

The new president has promised a harder line against drug trafficking that includes bringing back the aerial fumigation of coca crops, a policy that was stopped by Mr Santos’s administration three years ago over health concerns, but is supported by the US government.

Cocaine production has doubled in Colombia over the past two years, according to US government estimates.

Mr Duque has undergone a quick transformation from unknown technocrat to president of South America’s second most populous nation, thanks in large part to the support of Mr Uribe.

Just four years ago, Mr Duque was a Washington suburbanite with a job at an international development bank.

It was there that he developed close ties to MrUribe, assisting the former president when he taught a course at Georgetown University.

In 2014, Mr Uribe propelled Mr Duque into the political limelight when he encouraged him to return to Colombia to run for a Senate seat and placed him on a list of newcomer candidates that he urged his multitude of supporters to elect. – AP </s> Colombia's new government said it would review former President Juan Manuel Santos' recognition of Palestine after the previously unreleased decision was made public on Wednesday.

BOGOTA: Colombia's new government said it would review former President Juan Manuel Santos' recognition of Palestine after the previously unreleased decision was made public on Wednesday.

President Ivan Duque took office on Tuesday and was informed a few days ago of Santos' decision, which was detailed in an Aug. 3 letter to the Palestinian representative in Colombia, the foreign ministry said.

"Given possible omissions that could come to light about the way in which this decision was taken by the outgoing president, the government will cautiously examine its implications and will act according to international law," new Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes said in a statement.

Santos decided to recognise Palestine as a "free, independent and sovereign state," according to the letter, which was circulated to reporters by the foreign ministry.

"Just as the Palestinian people have a right to constitute an independent state, Israel has a right to live in peace alongside its neighbours," the letter said.

The decision came to light during a visit to Colombia by United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. She attended Duque's inauguration on Tuesday and on Wednesday visited Venezuelan migrants in the northern border city of Cucuta.

The United States, a close ally of Israel, was getting more information about the situation and had no immediate comment, the U.S. mission to the United Nations said.

"We thank the Colombian government for this decision and we are sure that it will contribute significantly to generating the necessary conditions in the search for peace in the Middle East," the Palestine representative said in a statement on Wednesday.

Palestine has been recognised as a sovereign state by the U.N. General Assembly, the International Criminal Court and at least 136 countries.

Palestine seeks to create a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, lands that Israel captured in the 1967 war.

Colombia abstained in December from a vote by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on a resolution calling for the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favour.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest obstacles to a peace deal between Israel and Palestine, who were furious over Trump's move. The international community does not recognise Israeli sovereignty over the full city. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption He became Colombia's youngest elected leader after being sworn in at Bogota's Bolivar Square

Colombia's newly-elected President Iván Duque took office on Tuesday, pledging to unite the country and improve economic growth.

The conservative political newcomer was elected in June after a divisive election campaign where he saw off left-wing rival Gustavo Petro.

In his inaugural address, the former lawyer pledged changes to tackle corruption and invigorate the economy.

The leader has also vowed to change the peace deal with the Farc rebel group.

The outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos has urged Mr Duque to respect the deal, which was negotiated in 2016 to bring an end to the country's brutal five-decade civil conflict.

The Farc, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is now a political party known as the Revolutionary Alternative Common Force. A number of its members took up seats in parliament last month as part of the terms which guarantee it political representation.

Mr Duque has said he remains committed to Colombia's peace process, but says that it is too lenient on former guerrilla fighters accused of war crimes.

"We will deploy corrective measures to ensure that the victims get the truth, proportional justice, reparations and no repetitions of the past," the new president said in his address on Tuesday.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Official photographs were released of the new president and his family

Mr Duque also spoke about the need to heal the country after a divisive election campaign earlier this year.

The Centro Democrático (Democratic Centre) party candidate beat opponent Gustavo Petro by 12 points in June - winning the run-off election with 54% of the final vote.

"I want to govern Colombia with unbreakable values and principles, overcoming the divisions of left and right, overcoming with popular dialogue the prickly feelings that invite social fracture, I want to govern Colombia with a spirit to build, never to destroy," President Duque said in his address.

His political platform is considered business-friendly after he pledged to cut taxes and boost investment in Colombia's economy.

Mr Duque, who at 42 is the youngest Colombian to be president in the modern era, was handpicked as party leader by founder Álvaro Uribe Velez, who himself was president from 2002 to 2010.

Mr Uribe remains active in politics, but resigned from his senate seat in July to face a bribery and fraud investigation in the Supreme Court.

Mr Duque's running mate, Marta Lucía Ramirez, has become the country's first ever female vice-president.

The new president assumes power at a time of heightened tension with neighbours Venezuela. Earlier this week President Nicolas Maduro accused the outgoing Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos of being responsible for an apparent attempt to assassinate him at a military event in Caracas.

The allegation was described as "baseless" by Bogota.
Iván Duque Márquez is sworn in as new President of Colombia.