Thousands of people on Tuesday protested in Colombia’s capital, Bogota, and other cities against reforms by Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Since taking office in August last year, Petro has submitted several reform projects to parliament to reduce private participation in the healthcare system, redistribute unproductive land, and reform labor and pension regulations, but he has since lost his majority backing in the legislature, tying his hands in reform efforts.
The 63-year-old leader has also opened negotiations with armed groups in the quest for a “total peace” after decades of violence and has vowed to lead the country to a greener future.
Photo: Reuters
Called by opposition parties under the banner “March of the majority,” protesters gathered in cities including Bogota, Medellin, Cali and Barranquilla.
Many waved Colombia’s yellow, blue and red flag, and held posters with such messages as: “No to ending up like Cuba or Venezuela.”
The mobilization seemed particularly large in Medellin, images broadcast by national media showed.
Police estimated the national turnout at 92,000, including 30,000 in the capital, where protesters marched to Bolivar Square near the presidency and parliament, shouting slogans denouncing Petro and his plans.
Among them, former Colombian minister of defense Diego Molano accused the Petro administration of “weakening institutions” while pointing to what he said was an increase in violence “while the guerrillas get stronger” under the peace process.
“They [the government] are going to destroy pensions and healthcare,” Colombian Senator Maria Fernanda Cabal said at a demonstration in Cali.
On the campaign trail, Petro had vowed to address deep social inequality, but in a country marked by a deep-rooted fear of the political left — associated with guerrilla groups that sowed decades of misery — the pushback was fierce, with rivals seeking to paint him as a radical, Hugo Chavez-style populist.
Petro, a former guerilla himself, “has improvised a lot and instead of wanting to improve what works, he wants to do away with everything that already existed,” Gloria Huertas, 59, told reporters in Bogota.
The president has also been caught up in a scandal involving a former aide’s alleged illegal wiretapping of a nanny suspected of stealing a briefcase full of money.
Petro’s popularity has plummeted from about 50 percent in November last year to 34 percent last month, the latest Invamer poll showed.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS