Petro’s request: that the country mobilize for “exchange reforms”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro asked the people, this Monday, May 1, mobilize and take to the streets to support the “exchange reforms” that promotes your government and that they have not had sufficient support in Congress.

(See: Minute by minute: Labor Day marches passed calmly).

On the occasion of the celebration of International Workers Day, Petro went out onto the balcony of the Casa de Nariño to address thousands of people who gathered in the Plaza de Armas to show their support for the Government and its policies.

Between applause and cheers, the president defended the reforms “fundamental“presented by their ministers to Congress: agrarian, health, labor and pensions.

“We cannot go back, let lose the momentum of the millions of Colombians who went to the polls to change Colombia. We cannot leave alone the great reforms of change“said Petro, who harshly criticized his opponents, mainly in Congress, where they do not have majorities.

The president added: “We have tried to comply with that guideline of the people that was expressed at the polls, who knew it was time to leave the barricade to go to the polls by millions because it was there from where the history of Colombia could be changed.“.

(See: Relive President Petro’s Labor Day speech.)

He immediately attacked those they have not allowed him to advance in his reforms and he reproached that “some elites that have become accustomed to the thought of the slaveholder, do not see freedom in the granting of rights, on the contrary (…) they believe that the more rights that are given to the people, the less freedom“.

Therefore, he insisted that “the people cannot fall asleep, it is not enough to win at the polls, social change implies a permanent struggle and that struggle takes place with a mobilized people“, and “at the head of this town must be the youth, the worker and the working class“.

“They believed that Petro, cornered, would drop (from) the idea of ​​the great transformation, of social change (…) and that he would not bother anymore (…) but that is not our destiny, our destiny is to succeed in the reforms“he added between shouts of “yes it could“.

(See: Change in the Ministry of Health will generate variations in the reform project?).

Petro mentioned all the reforms undertaken by his government, starting with the agrarian, on which he defended that “the land has a social function which is to produce food“, and for that “there must be a peasant town that knows how to organize itself and take to the roads, to the public square” for defend access to land.

“That peasant movement that they hid through blood and terror must reappear so that it can be a fundamental actor in the transformations of Colombia.“, since “the land is for those who work it”, in the words of the head of state.

As for health, which was a turning point in the ministerial cabinet and triggered the replacement of seven ministers, The president defended that he seeks that “public money is not managed by large power groups“.

He also criticized the press for questioning the health reform. “The phrases of the media that repeat over and over again telling the people that we have one of the best health systems in the world are lies. What a big lie, what a way to deceive“, he expressed.

(See: New Petro government ministers took office).

“If the health and pension reform is not approved, the Health Provider Entities (EPS) will end and the private pension funds will too“, because they are the product of a “failed system”, and maintaining it “only brings catastrophe”.

He also criticized those who say that “If the working day is improved, if greater criteria for dignifying work in Colombia are placed, then it will become so expensive that the employer will not take more work“.

“Lies, a businessman cannot make a profit if there are no workers; profits are only born if there is work“, he added.

According to the president, “asking for criteria of greater dignity of work is not absurd, it has to do with building a more egalitarian, fairer society; and a fairer society is more peaceful, more democratic, more productive and therefore produces more profits“.

The labor reform proposes “neither more nor less reduce the working day“, a fight that “gave rise to this day,” he said in reference to the commemoration of Labor Day.

Petro concluded that “what is needed is for the people to be mobilized“, asking his supporters to take to the streets to defend his policies.

EFE