Colombians Mobilize in Support of President Petro’s Social Reforms
Bolivar Square, Bogota, March 18, 2025. X/ @YoAlejoV
March 19, 2025 Hour: 9:23 am
‘When tyranny is imposed, the people must rebel with the greatest possible force,’ the Colombian leader stated.
Thousands of Colombians took to the streets of Bogota and other major cities on Tuesday, responding to a call from labor unions to support President Gustavo Petro and reject Congress’s obstruction of health and labor reforms.
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“When tyranny is imposed, the people must rebel with the greatest possible force,” Petro declared in a speech at Bolivar Square in downtown Bogota, where he attributed the stagnation of the reforms to corruption and the greed of the old political class, which resists changes that would benefit workers.
Last week, he announced plans to call for a public referendum, allowing the people to decide. According to the Colombian president, senators must vote in favor of the reforms “to allow the people to speak” because, in Colombia, “there are no more corrupt politicians in Congress.” He warned, “If they do not accept the referendum, the people will remove them from Congress.”
“Congress must take this mobilization seriously because what the people are telling lawmakers is that they do not represent them. What they are doing is legislating for the elites that finance them. This is a clear message that people are dissatisfied with their decisions,” Petro emphasized.
“Lawmakers have betrayed the Colombian people, and they have done so out of greed… The oligarchs have already started shouting against the public referendum because they fear the people,” he added.
“This Congress will have to prove whether it obeys the people, as should happen in a democracy, whether it is unashamed to serve as public servants, and whether it considers its people as the true commanders who issue the orders or if it chooses to betray them,” he insisted.
Last week, 8 out of 14 members of the Senate’s Seventh Commission signed a proposal to shelve the labor reform. The reform’s failure was confirmed on Tuesday when the proposal was debated and once again discarded after a discussion attended by Labor Minister Antonio Sanguino.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
