Photo: Fernando Vergara/AP Photo/picture alliance/Deutsche Welle
Thousands of Colombians took to the streets of the main cities of the country this Tuesday (06.20.2023) amid harangues of “No to the Petro-reforms” and “We are the majority”, to protest against the labor, health and pensions presented to Congress by the government of Gustavo Petro.
“We are going to stop the reforms in which he (Petro) believes“, assured in Bogotá the ultra-conservative former presidential candidate Enrique Gómez, of the National Salvation Movement, who referred to the president as an “anti-democrat” who “lies” and who “has dictatorial tendencies.”
Among the protesters, who they walked peacefullywhite shirts or those of the national soccer team predominated, as well as Colombian flags, colored balloons and whistles to attract attention.
Baptized as “March of the majority“The demonstrations brought together tens of thousands of people in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cúcuta and other cities, outnumbering those who came out at the beginning of June to support Petro and his social reforms, considered by many as harmful to the country.
The former presidential candidate of the right-wing Colombia Justa Libres party, John Milton Rodríguez, condemned that with the labor reform they are going to “destroy 700,000 jobs” and with the pension, “the right of workers to decide how to retire” will be taken away, while “the pension savings are used to pay the subsidies that Petro has promised.”
In Cali and Bogotá, where the marches culminated in sit-ins in the Plazotela Jairo Varela and in the Plaza de Bolívar, respectively, the cries in favor of improving security also resounded in the mouths of walkers like William Delgado from Cali, who demonstrated against the “misgovernment” and the reforms made to “pupitrazo” (in a hurry).
Even in the capital, a minute of silence was held for the members of the Public Force fallen in combat, a sector that was supported with banners that read “Thank you, heroes.”
John Milton Rodríguez also ruled on the signing of the ceasefire between the government and the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) on June 9 in Havana by assuring that “dominion of Colombian territory is being handed over to that criminal group.”
In the same way, the demonstrators condemned the idea of creating an international multi-donor fund to subsidize this guerrilla in exchange for stopping kidnapping.
According to data from the Colombian Police, “more than 92,000 people” participated in the “March of the Majority”, of which 30,000 were concentrated in Bogotá.
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