The blockades in Chocó and Buenaventura, the formation of the dissidences in Puerto Asís, the fear of a trucker strike in Cesar and the protests for Hidroituango in Antioquia are just some of the lighters that are being lit in these first months of the National Government.
Gustavo Petro was elected by raising the flags of the defense of social struggles, but -following exactly 150 days since he came to power- the marches in different regions have remained intact and some of them have even worsened due to the complex economic situation through which the country crosses.
Proof of this have been the at least 11 places where social nonconformity is concentrated that might explode in the hands of the Head of State at any time.
Although these claims go back a long time and in many cases they are historical debts of the State with the communities, Petro promised that the imprint of his government would be the “real change”, with which he assumed the challenge of providing effective solutions and urgent to the demands of the people through “social justice”. However, upon taking the helm of the Nation, he realized that it would not be an easy and quick task, because his promise of change requires time and money.
In these four months, the president has not only had to deal with the two large calls for marches by those who oppose his way of governing, but also with strikes by motorcyclists, truckers, miners, indigenous communities, as well as roadblocks. via the port of Buenaventura –Colombia’s main foreign trade port–, which left losses amounting to some 50,000 million pesos, according to the Valle del Cauca Inter-union Committee.
protests that break out
This wave of protests increased their desire for answers due to the high expectations that Petro placed during the presidential campaign in solving social problems, a situation that has become a kind of ‘hot potato’ for the president, whose main solution is It has focused on conveying an idea of immediate reaction to the claims by sending a delegate –sometimes his ministers– to calm the protesters.
Proof of this was the situation registered on October 12 in the midst of the strike of thousands of motorcyclists that took place in the streets of Bogotá, collapsing the mobility of the capital. The Minister of Transportation, Guillermo Reyes, arrived at this protest on a motorbike, who – by order of the President – spoke with the protesters and managed to calm things down with the promise of lowering the price of the Mandatory Accident Insurance policy for Transit (Soat) to low-cylinder motorcycles.
This immediate reaction strategy was evident in Petro’s anticipatory attempt to avoid this motorized protest, since the announcement to reduce the price of Soat by 50% was made only 24 hours before, but this did not prevent the protest will be deployed in Bogota.
“I don’t know for what purpose they intend to say that this government has abandoned them. They are wrong to cite and call a strike, when the Government, headed by President Gustavo Petro, has indicated that we are going to lower the Soat rate to 50%,” said Reyes.
Added to this anticipation plan for claims is the government’s attempt to show closeness to the communities through populist actions, a situation that has not been immune to criticism. This was evident on September 1 in the municipality of Padilla, in Cauca, where the Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada, was accused of committing resources by encouraging the communities to press for the support of the tax.
In the midst of the ‘Regional Peace Dialogue’ and in search of solutions to the problems of that Cauca territory, Prada assured that they might resort to “popular mobilization to tell Congress that we need money to get out of this. Those who understood, understood. We need popular support, from the Colombian people to be able to do what we want to do (…) What we want to do is make decisions with you”.
Another action out of all protocol was recorded on October 16, when the President urgently received a delegation from the Embera community that was protesting in the streets of Bogotá at the Casa de Nariño for the lack of security guarantees to return to their territories. originally.
The president received this delegation in the Palace amid criticism from Mayor Claudia López for the attacks suffered by several police officers in the midst of the protests, a situation that Petro also rejected. “The agreements signed by the previous government (of Iván Duque) will be fulfilled. Peace in the upper Andagueda, the empowerment of its reserve will be essential to solve a problem of ethnic misunderstanding in the center of Bogotá”, stated the Head of State.
In addition to these social demands, the President had a litmus test on November 12 due to the death of 23 people in the midst of the armed confrontation between Farc dissidents for the control of criminal income from the territory between Puerto Asís and Puerto Guzmán, in Putumayo.
Despite the seriousness of the event and the fact that the number of deaths in massacres has already exceeded 40 – in places like Cauca, Valle, Bolívar and Bogotá – during the Petro Government, the Head of State preferred not to pronounce himself in the face of this outbreak of violence. and he only did it 48 hours later from Barrancabermeja, in Santander.
“What we saw in Putumayo is the conflict between two dissidences that claim to be from the former FARC, massacring each other in a gruesome manner,” said the president, who later announced his first major military deployment by sending 400 uniformed soldiers to that department.
Not enough with promises
This string of protests has implied that the Government commits millions of resources to try to calm the non-conformity of different social sectors, as was reflected in the plan to subsidize 50% of the price of Soat for low-cylinder motorcycles and vehicles such as taxis, urban minibuses, urban public service minibuses and intermunicipal public service minibuses.
It is estimated that the cost of this subsidy to Soat will reach 2 trillion pesos and will represent 10% of the recently approved tax reform, whose resources, as the Government insisted without further clarity, would be used exclusively for social causes such as subsidies for poor households. , mothers who are heads of households and older adults who do not have a pension.
“Those 2 trillion pesos are going to be financed with resources from next year’s budget addition. In any case, it is important to take into account that 100% of what is collected, 53% finances the Soat and the other 47% finances other items in the health sector”, assured Minister Reyes.
To this must be added the 1.8 trillion pesos of investment that the Government ratified to try to provide a structural solution to the floods in the La Mojana area, a problem that comes from years ago and that motivated farmers from Córdoba and Sucre to go unemployed in November due to the lack of priority attention.
This indefinite strike by farmers was lifted – provisionally – on November 23 following reaching a series of agreements with Minister Prada, who assured that the Government will seek a solution as soon as possible to the various impacts that winter has left in that region.
These millionaire ‘blank checks’ that the Government has promised the communities and transporters to provide an urgent solution to their problems do not necessarily assure Petro that the protests will cease, since a tense calm remains latent, since in the case of La Mojana farmers warned that if they do not see quick results, they will protest once more, as will motorcyclists and taxi drivers, who would turn to the streets if the price of gasoline continues to rise.
At the beginning of his term, Petro has made it clear that he prefers to assume ambitious commitments to try to put out fires and thus shield himself from opinion blows, but he will have to do the math to comply with all communities and sectors, whose claims remain silent, but hot, and who are motivated to claim by taking to the streets to make demands.
