Colombian President Gustavo Petro traveled to Jacmel, Haiti on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, for an official visit that is distinguished both by its historical importance and by the opportunity to strengthen relations between the two nations.

With a delay of nearly 7 hours, the military plane carrying Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his delegation arrived at Jacmel airport around 3:50 a.m. where he was greeted with full honors and protocol on the tarmac by Leslie Voltaire, President pro tempore of the Transitional Council and numerous authorities and personalities in a large security presence deployed by the Haitian National Police and several special units.

The two presidents and their delegations then went under escort to the Manoir Hadriana Hotel for a binational Council of Ministers. After more than an hour of discussions, in key areas such as agriculture, trade and culture. These discussions aimed to promote joint projects that promote sustainable development, the exchange of technical knowledge and the strengthening of local economies, a cooperation agreement was signed between the two countries.

Several sectoral Memoranda of Understanding were also signed between ministers of the two countries, among others in the sectors of agriculture and food security, defense and trade relations. Nothing has filtered out about the content of the cooperation in defense and security.

After the Council of Ministers, President Petro was taken to the house where Simon Bolivar lived when he received help from Alexandre Pétion to liberate Latin America

The agenda of the day was profoundly modified and shortened due to President Petro's delay due to the violent guerrilla clashes in his country.

After Simon Bolivar's house, they went to the public square dedicated to the two fathers of Pan-Americanism for the unveiling of the busts of Alexandre Pétion and Simon Bolivar. The ceremony ended on the wharf of Jacmel with a press briefing where President Petro delivered a speech in Spanish of nearly 16 minutes.

Excerpts in French from President Petro’s speech, delivered in Spanish

"[...] We are exactly where Francisco Miranda and Simón Bolívar, full of dreams and perhaps fears, left. They slept here, in this village. They sought support, found it, and then set out to conquer freedom on our continent, in our lands, our mountains, our plains, and our magnificent beaches. They announced to the world that the hour of freedom had arrived, inspired by you, the Haitian people, who carried out one of the greatest and most profound revolutions in the world.

A revolution that we forget today, that we try to hide, by thinking that the revolutions were made by white people, over there in Paris, in Moscow, or in Washington. But history forgets that a black revolution raised its flag here to break one of the worst forms of slavery [...]

[...] I want to thank you for helping my America, my Colombia, achieve freedom. You even gave us our flag. [...] inspired by the Haitian revolution. Its blue and red color do not only represent the sky or the blood shed for freedom. These colors also symbolize your flag and your revolution. [...]"

The Colombian president and his delegation left Jacmel for Colombia around 7:00 p.m.

SL/ HaitiLibre