Petro and Colombia’s opposition call for protests over labor reform – Colombia News

Both Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro and his opposition in Congress announced protests over a referendum on labor reforms.

In a post on social media platform X, Petro said that he will take part in protests organized by labor unions and social organizations on June 11 in Cali.

The labor unions and social organizations have been planning to take Colombia’s three largest cities in support of a referendum on the labor reforms the government is expected to call in the coming days.

Colombia’s labor unions and social organizations announce national strike on May 28 and 29

“I hope for the mobilization of the entire west of the country to say that the people don’t give up and the time has come” for social reforms to improve the conditions of Colombia’s workers and pensioners, the president said.

Petro and Interior Minister Armando Benedetti have said that they will call the referendum despite a disputed Senate vote against it.

The president said earlier this week that he hoped that the Constitutional Court will confirm that a flurry of alleged irregularities left the Senate vote null and void, and give a green light to his referendum.

The move alarmed the traditional and far-right parties in Congress, which called the president’s decision to call the referendum by decree a “coup d’état.”

“It’s a coup d’état”: Petro’s labor referendum draws ire of Colombia’s opposition parties

In a video posted on X, representatives of Colombia’s conservative and far-right parties said that they will also call for protests, but in opposition of Petro and his “attempts to break our democracy” through a referendum.

“On Tuesday, Colombia will know… when we will take to the streets,” said an unknown activist that joined the politicians on the steps of the capitol in Bogota.

The opposition can only count on the support of a significant portion of the Liberal Party, which is split over its approach to Colombia’s first left-wing government in history.