Thousands of people took to the streets of the main cities of Colombia this Monday to protest against economic and political reforms by President Gustavo Petro, the first demonstration against his government since he took office on August 7.
In Bogotá, people concentrated mainly in the National Park and in the Plaza and Monument of the Fallen. Most were carrying Colombian flags and wearing white shirts.
The so-called “Great National March” has scheduled concentrations in “more than 20 cities in the country and also in cities in the United States, Mexico, Panama and Switzerland,” architect Pierre Onzaga, one of the organizers of the mobilization, told Efe. announced a second day for October 24.
Interior Minister Alfonso Prada said that the Petro government respects the protest and that “public order will be maintained peacefully.”
In Cali, 4 cats came out… and thousands of people! pic.twitter.com/Thohd0Jb8T
— David Ghitis (@ghitis) September 26, 2022
«The opposition called for today (Monday) a national day of protest. This government will respect the right of all citizens to social protest. Expressions of disagreement will always be welcome and listened to,” Prada said on Twitter.
Pierre Onzaga explained that the protest is due to the fact that people understand that the tax reform proposed by the government will affect the poorest.
social debt
This initiative, presented by the Minister of Finance, José Antonio Ocampo in August, seeks to raise 25 billion pesos a year (about 5,550 million dollars at today’s exchange rate), money necessary, according to the government, to reduce the social debt.
“They have told the country that this reform was for the 4,000 richest Colombians, but it seems to be for 48 million Colombians,” commented Onzaga.
He added that it was said that “the family basket is not taxed, but it ends up being taxed via plastic and gasoline. Here what we are saying is that we found several things that have been sold by , but in practice they are not happening.
He recalled that he was one of the organizers of a march that in 2008 mobilized millions of people in Colombia who rejected the actions of the FARC guerrillas.
The other reasons for the protest
The demonstrations are also against the labor reform projects that the government will present next year, the electoral code, among others.
The reform of that code, according to Onzaga, implies the creation of a “mega body” that will have the power to cancel any political party “arbitrarily under criteria that they themselves will create.”
He announced that at the end of the day they will take stock and he hoped that “everything will pass in peace.”
As the protest began, Petro was on the border with Venezuela leading the reopening of border crossings that had been closed for seven years.
???????? AWESOME!
There are thousands and thousands of Colombians who took to the streets of Medellín to protest against the socialist policies of the former guerrilla @petrogustavo.
This must be shared, let’s not leave Colombia alone ???? pic.twitter.com/3rkF6gui4A
– Emmanuel Rincon (@EmmaRincon) September 26, 2022
#26Sep #Colombia
First day of protests in Colombia against the government of Gustavo Petro, Bolívar square in Bogotá.pic.twitter.com/OZXvsWUS7F – @Datoworld– Report Now (@ReporteYa) September 26, 2022