Demonstrations in Colombia in support of the reforms of the Petro Government

First modification: 02/15/2023 – 11:36Last modification: 02/15/2023 – 11:37

Until now, the Government has only released the text of the health reform, which aims to reduce private participation in the system and expand coverage to the poorest and most remote communities, strengthening the capacities of the State. However, it also intends to pass a labor and pension reform in Congress.

From the balcony of his office, Gustavo Petro called the citizens to the streets and to the presidential palace itself to mobilize to pressure the approval of these texts, and in his speech, he highlighted the importance of health reform.

“We have presented the health reform… that if there is no disease prevention system, we are more vulnerable to death… (We need) something called social justice.”

Thousands of workers, educators and health workers, among others, responded to the call of the president, who presents this week the ambitious battery of reforms to Congress.

Petro wants to give a 180 degree turn to the politics of the country, governed by the right for more than 200 years.

“Change is not possible without the people, what was elected was not just one person (…), what was done in the election was to return the government to the people, it was to return power to the people and that has to be expressed,” he added in front of supporters chanting his name and flag-waving ministers.

With musical instruments and banners, the demonstrators gathered in various cities such as Medellín, Cali and Bogotá, the capital, where the marches revolved around the reform of the health system, the one that has aroused the most controversy so far.

Mobilization for health reform

Joselyn Pérez, one of the protesters, assures that people’s concern is understandable: “It is normal for people to worry because they are going to take that money away from them. We need that regardless of who manages it, there is a guarantee of work for all and health for all ”.

The bill intends, among other things, to create a special labor regime for health workers and pass the administration of resources from private entities, the so-called EPS, to the State, a change that for citizens like Pedro Vargas, is the most important: “One of the sectors that manages the most resources is the health sector. But everything stays with who owns the EPS (private health entities). Capitalists, bankers who are making usufruct, perhaps, of a public good”.

Romary, a national education teacher, who was in the middle of the mobilization, assures that in her country “health is not a right but rather a business that is in the hands of the EPS and that is basically what is being fought for. A health reform that really allows health to be in the hands of the State and that guarantees the right to all Colombians”.

For her, the fear of citizens that the reforms will not be approved is based on the fact that despite the change in the executive, being the first left-wing government in the country’s history, power remains in the hands of the usual ruling classes. “The media are owned by the ruling classes that misinform people. From the first day that Petro took a position, there has been a fear that the right will end up overthrowing the government, ”she added.

Fernando Paez, who was in the mobilizations in support of the Petro government, affirms that these ruling classes want to misrepresent the image of the Government. “They want to blur it, making it look like a government that is going to end democracy, that is going to end the economy, when we are convinced that we have known how to choose who truly represents the interests of the population,” he assured.

Opponents and certain members of the parties related to President Petro are critical of this change in the sanitary system; In addition to its million-dollar costs, they point to the possibility that it encourages corruption and makes the medical union even more precarious.

A group of detractors of the president carried banners that read “Petro dictator” and this Wednesday the opponents are preparing to take to the streets in rejection of the reform.

with AFP