“I didn’t think that I would live to see that this is finally happening, I know that we are not going to change from one day to the next, but this is just the beginning,” said Nelson Molina, 56, who works as a construction plumber, while displaying a Petro campaign t-shirt and cap.
The inauguration ceremony will take place in the historic Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá. Senate President Roy Barreras will swear him in and impose the presidential sash in front of some 100,000 people, including King Felipe VI of Spain, nine leaders from Latin America and ordinary people invited by Petro.
Groups of people also gathered to celebrate on both sides of the border between Colombia and Venezuela, at the Simón Bolívar bridge, outside the city of Cúcuta.
Petro announced that it will restore diplomatic relations with Venezuela, allowing the resumption of trade between the two countries and consular services.
The new Vice President, Francia Márquez, An environmental activist and former domestic worker, she will be the first Afro-Colombian woman to hold that position.
Petro, a 62-year-old economist who was a congressman, announced that his first government action will be to implement a plan to reduce hunger in the country of 50 million people, where nearly half the population lives in poverty.