Activists mobilize in Colombia’s cities in support of Petro’s labor reforms – Colombia News

Supporters of Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro have organized the first community council meetings that seek to muster popular support for a referendum on labor reforms.

Petro called on the people to organize the assemblies after the Senate sunk the referendum in what the government called a fraudulent vote on Thursday.

In the same session, the Senate voted to revive the labor reforms that had been killed by its social policy committee in April.

Cheered on by the president, dozens of supporters of the labor reform organized the first meetings in the cities of Bogota, Medellin and Cartagena over the weekend.

Petro is expected to address tens of thousands of followers in Barranquilla on Tuesday in his latest attempt to mobilize the masses that support his decision to call on the Senate to vote for a revised referendum in the coming weeks.

Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said last week that he hoped that the open community councils would vote for a general strike, which could potentially shut down Colombia’s economy.

Ahead of the disputed Senate vote, political parties of Petro’s “Historic Pact” coalition in Congress said that they had already mobilized 1,500 support committees to promote a “Yes” vote in the referendum.

Guillermo Cardona, the president of the National Federation of Community Action, which represents 16,000 formal community councils throughout Colombia, said in April that his organization was “the guarantee for victory” if Petro is able to push the referendum through the Senate.

The relation between the government and the Senate has gradually worsened because of the congressional chamber’s effective opposition to the government’s reform agenda.

Petro’s coalition has a majority in the House of Representatives, but depends on the support of independent lawmakers in the Senate.

The president and his supporters have warned the opposition senators that their refusal to budge on the government’s reform proposals will cost them their seats in the 2026 congressional elections.