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Gustavo Petro was sworn in Sunday as Colombia's first-ever leftwing president, thus succeeding the conservative and highly unpopular Iván Duque.

June 19th signaled an unprecedented shift in Colombian politics. Gustavo Petro and his left-wing coalition, the Pacto Histórico, defeated the far-right wing multi-millionaire Rodolfo Hernández in the second round of the presidential elections. Pedro’s running mate, the environmental activist and human rights lawyer Francia Márquez, is now the first Afro-Colombian woman to ever become Vice-President.

On 7 August, Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla with progressive liberal ideas, was sworn in as president of Colombia. In fact, he marks a difference with other left-wing leaders in Latin America, given that he was not a follower of the classic Stalinist, Maoist and pro-Cuban socialist left. He therefore has profound ideological differences with the left regimes of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. On the other hand, there are many coincidences with the left visions of Lula, Mojica and López Obrador.

On 28 June, Colombia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission unveiled its final report on that country’s 60-year armed conflict. Its central message, gathered in a nearly 900-page chapter on findings and recommendations, focuses less on the violence and more on reflecting on why it continued for so long and what to do to stop it.

Gustavo Petro is labelled as Colombia's first leftist president. But history shows that there has been another left-leaning leader in recent history.