Ivan Duque becomes Colombia's president
Colombia's President-elect Ivan Duque was sworn in to office on Tuesday, pledging to unite a divided nation behind his plan to toughen a peace accord with Marxist rebels and rekindle economic growth. Right-wing Duque, who replaces Nobel Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos, faces significant challenges.
The economy remains weak, a new wave of drug trafficking gangs have moved into areas once controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, and nearly a million Venezuelan migrants have crossed into Colombia looking for food and work.
The 42-year-old lawyer and former senator for the Democratic Center party won a decisive victory against a leftist opponent in June's election, promising to make adjustments to the domestically-controversial peace accord with the FARC, cut corporate taxes and redouble security efforts in certain areas.
"I want to govern Colombia with unbreakable values and principles, overcoming left and right divisions," Duque said in an address before dignitaries, after receiving the presidential sash in Bogota's Plaza Bolivar. "I want to govern Colombia with the spirit of building, never of destroying."
Ongoing peace negotiations with National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels, the country's last remaining insurgent group, will be evaluated over the next 30 days, Duque said.
