These are the presidents confirmed to attend COP 16 in Cali

Despite President Gustavo Petro's complaint about the lack of presidents at COP 16 in Cali this Friday evening, Chancellor Luis Gilberto Murillo confirmed that at least five of them will be present in the coming days. They will participate in the high-level meeting on October 29.

According to Murillo, the presidents of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, and Bolivia, Luis Arce, are expected to arrive in the country next week. As for Noboa, Gustavo Petro was the only president of the region to attend his inauguration, but ideological differences between the two have since become apparent. Arce has expressed sympathy for the Colombian president and is currently facing a political crisis due to his differences with Evo Morales, who initially pushed him for the presidency.

"The president of the presidential commission of Haiti is coming, we have the president of Armenia, the president of Guinea-Bissau. We have several foreign ministers and the secretary general. Who usually does not attend biodiversity COPs, but on this occasion he came," said Murillo. As for the Haitian president, it is not known if there will be a special meeting with President Gustavo Petro, given the Colombian's constant references to that country and the "mea culpa" he made for the participation of Jovenel Moïse, in which the country's retired military participated.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was also expected to attend COP 16, but a blow to the head incapacitated him and prevented his presence in Cali. In a speech, Gustavo Petro lamented the absence of the Brazilian president and other leaders from the region.

Nevertheless, Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo highlighted the Forum's broad international presence in a speech to the media. Not only are there five presidents, foreign ministers and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, but more than 23,000 delegates have come to participate in the world's most important biodiversity conference, he said.