This is an opinion editorial Joao is the founder of Boletim Bitcoin, a Brazilian website focused on bitcoin, and a contributor to Bitcoin Magazine.
This story was originally published in Portuguese by Boletim Bitcoin.

Former rebel Gustavo Petro, left, his wife Veronica Alcosar, back center, and their running mate Francia Marquez, celebrate in front of supporters after winning a runoff presidential election on June 19, 2022 in Bogota, Colombia. (Photo/Fernando Vergara-AP)
Who is Gustavo Petro?
Gustavo Petro is a Colombian economist who worked as a guerrilla and most recently as a senator from Colombia, and was elected as the President of the Latin American country, with 50.49% of the vote against 47.25% of the vote. With a businessman was on the side of Rodolfo Hernandez, a businessman. As in “Colombian Donald Trump”.
Petro served as a guerrilla in the Movimento 19 de Abril (M-19) group, which later became the M-19 Democratic Alliance party, in which he was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies, beginning his political career.
After the election, Gustavo Petro stated that he intended to “develop capitalism in Colombia”. According to the president, it is necessary “to remove feudalism in Colombia, to remove the hereditary mentality associated with this world of serfs”.
Rival candidate Rodolfo Hernández accepted the election result.
Petro is known for helping the Colombian government sign deals with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and similar groups in 2016 as well as condemning corruption scandals.
Gustavo Petro and bitcoin
On more than one occasion, Gustavo Petro has stated that bitcoin is a superior cash technology and that Colombia should direct its energy surplus to mine the cryptocurrency in strategic areas as a way to prevent the trade of illicit substances.
In 2017, Petro said:
“Bitcoin removes the issuance power of the states and confiscation of currency from banks. It is a community currency based on the trust of those transacting with it. Because it is based on a blockchain, trust is measured. is and grows, so is its strength.”
Regarding bitcoin mining Petro said:
“Cryptocurrencies need clean energy and we can do what El Salvador did, which is exporting clean energy. We can do it with wind from La Guajira, with springs, without reservoirs, the western mountain range. from the Pacific or Ocean.
“And we can turn the Wei communities, the coal workers of the Caesar region, the black communities of the Colombian Pacific Coast into the owners of these new forms of energy that are linked to cryptocurrency computing, and then we will have another world.”
one in Tweet In October 2021, Petro even suggested that the country should have a reference in the production of bitcoin and not cocaine.
Interestingly, Petro is being billed by local media as the first left-wing president elected in a country that has been allegedly ruled by centrist parties in recent years. This fact, in some ways, contradicts the origins and libertarian views of bitcoin – influenced by a strong community of cryptographers, mathematicians, and liberals.
When asked about bitcoin, Petro’s rival candidate said he was unaware of the topic, and talked about more regulations for the industry.
If Colombia integrates bitcoin under the government of Gustavo Petro, either through mining or by making the cryptocurrency legal tender, it would be the third sovereign country in the world to follow this path, initiated by El Salvador and along with the Central African Republic. Will happen.
importance of mining
Bitcoin mining is one of the most fundamental aspects of the operation of the protocol, which is responsible for a significant part of the security of the network. Through mining and Nakamoto consensus rules, the network agrees on the final state of transactions.
In recent years, dozens of major institutional players have begun to integrate mining as a way to monetize idle and underused electricity, or energy sources that would otherwise go to waste. This is the case of several major oil companies, such as ExxonMobil, which are using flare gas for bitcoin mining – gas that will burn in the atmosphere due to issues inherent in the field – for bitcoin mining.
The government of El Salvador plans to use geothermal energy in mining bitcoins from its volcanoes, which is set to become critical to the industry. Colombia entering bitcoin mining will be exponentially larger than the Salvadoran experiment, as the country has a GDP of $271 billion, almost 10 times that of El Salvador.
Colombia ranks 11th in the global ranking for bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption in the 2021 Chainalysis report, behind Venezuela and Argentina in the region.
This is a guest post by Joao. The opinions expressed are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.