Thousands of demonstrators protested on Tuesday in Bogota and in the main cities of Colombia against the reforms announced and promised by the left-wing government of President Gustavo Petro.
Many dressed in white and waving the national tricolor flag, protesters took to the streets of Bogota, Medellin (northwest), Cali (southwest), and Barranquilla (north) for this “majority march” convened by the right-wing opposition.
At the cry of “Dehors Petro!”, chanting slogans hostile to the first left-wing government in the country’s history, the protesters gathered in the center of the capital headed for Bolivar Square, near the presidency and parliament. The mobilization seemed particularly important in Medellin, according to images broadcast by national media.
The police estimated the attendance at 92,000 people, including 30,000 in Bogotá.
Petro “has improvised a lot and instead of wanting to improve what works, he wants to remove everything that existed,” Gloria Huertas, 59, told AFP in Bogota. “We tell President Petro not to play with our health, not to play with our pensions, not to destroy the country,” said Nicolas de Francisco, 31, another protester in the capital.
“They are going to destroy pensions and health care. It is a blind, deaf and dumb government”, lambasted from Cali and in front of the press the senator Maria Fernanda Cabal.
In Bogota, the former defense minister of the outgoing conservative government, Diego Molano, denounced pell-mell “the improvisation, the weakening of institutions, the threats against the press”, or even the increase in violence in the country while “the guerrillas are getting stronger” since the peace negotiations initiated by the government, according to this official.
Former military and police officials now retired had called for taking part in these demonstrations.
In power since August 2022, Mr Petro was elected on a promise of “change”. Since then, he has been trying to have many reforms adopted and implemented, including on the health system, work and pensions, land redistribution, clean energy, etc. He has also engaged in talks with the numerous armed groups operating in the country.
His government coalition with the Liberals and Centrists has collapsed, however, and he currently lacks a majority to push through his reforms in parliament, in particular his iconic plan for the public service to regain control of the health system. .
On Tuesday, the labor reform (which aims to reduce the working day, to make the payment of overtime compulsory and to toughen the conditions for dismissal), failed to pass a first examination in the Chamber of Deputies, for lack of quorum.
The president is also faced with a resounding scandal of illegal wiretapping concerning two of his relatives – recalling the old villainous practices of traditional Colombian politics – and having led to his being implicated for illegal financing of his presidential election campaign. He denounced a “creeping coup d’etat”.
His popularity is also falling, according to the latest poll by benchmark institute Invamer, dropping from 50% approval in November to 34% in May.
Commenting at a public ceremony on the marches that day, Mr. Petro assured that “our main responsibility is to take care of them. In the past, it has not been so. But now it is our duty and our commitment”, he pleaded.
The demonstrations ended without notable incident.
06/21/2023 01:45:59 – Bogotá (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
