Bogotá (EFE).- Thousands of people took to the streets of downtown Bogotá on Wednesday shouting “Long live the labor, pension and health reforms”, presented by the Government, to express their support for the policies of the Colombian president , Gustavo Petro, and press its approval in Congress.
Students, doctors, professors and representatives of various sectors took to the streets with posters to support the health, labor and pension reforms presented by the Government, which today are bogged down in Congress.
Hundreds of young people, dressed in the navy blue, green and black uniforms of the National Learning Service (Sena), led the demonstration with a banner that called for “rights for working youth.”
Shouting “You have to jump, you have to jump so that they approve the labor reform”, they showed their support for “the reforms of change”, which they believe will be approved because “they depend on the power of the people” who are in the streets today Jhonny Acosta, a member of the SENA student and graduate committee, told EFE.
The demonstrations were called by the Unitary Central of Workers of Colombia (CUT), the Confederation of Workers of Colombia (CTC) and the Colombian Federation of Education Workers (Fecode).
Concentrations in the country
Delegations from various parts of the country arrived in the Colombian capital seeking to add their support to the government’s reforms, among which there are doctors, indigenous people and other social groups who view the Petro government’s proposals with hope.
One of them is Mario Mora, a nurse at a hospital in the department of Tolima (center), who lamented that “the reforms are very stagnant.”
“They are very slow in the process in the Congress of the Republic. We want health to be a fundamental right and not a business,” Mora added to EFE.
Walking between masks with the face of the president and to the rhythm of the batucadas, the Minister of Labor, Gloria Inés Ramírez, appeared, who called on the political parties to “reflect” and “do not close the door so that Colombia moves towards rights” for those who advocate these social reforms.
“These three reforms are needed by the country to move towards a country of rights that complies with international recommendations, with the commitments signed with other countries, but above all that develops national jurisprudence, which are guarantees for work,” he told EFE. Ramírez at the beginning of the demonstration that left the National Park.
Petro leans on the street
For his part, President Petro, assured this Wednesday that the people will take to the streets to defend democracy if a “soft coup” occurs against him, in the midst of the biggest crisis his government has had in ten months in office.
Peter is not alone. If they dare to violate the popular mandate, the people of Colombia will come out (…) to defend with their clean, happy hands and without violence the (…) popular mandate,” said the president in a speech before thousands of people in Bogotá during a demonstration of support for his government’s reforms, which are bogged down in Congress.
The president has spoken this week of a “soft coup” to refer to the scandal in his government due to the revelations of his former ambassador in Caracas Armando Benedetti, his right-hand man during the elections, about alleged irregularities in the financing of his electoral campaign.
“They put out those lies because there is a strategy that we must understand and confront. They want to destroy the popular support of the government to have a single government, they want to isolate the Petro government from its people, they want to build mistrust in the popular base,” said the president.
The shadow of the scandal that puts the reforms in suspense
The demonstrations take place with the long shadow of the political storm unleashed by the former ambassador to Venezuela Armando Benedetti, who was Petro’s right-hand man in the electoral campaign, and in some audios released by the press threatened to reveal information about alleged irregularities in financing that Campaign.
In this sense, those who called for the demonstrations have promoted the event on social networks with the hashtags #QuierenPararElCambio and #ElPaísConfíaEnPetro.
“Let’s embrace the government and our political project with force,” Senator María José Pizarro, of the leftist Pacto Histórico coalition, of which Petro is also a part, wrote on Twitter.