“If the Senate ignores the people, I’m going to tie the armchair with some ropes to see what happens. I sacrifice myself”, It was the phrase that President Gustavo Petro launched before a crowd that crowded this May 1 in the Plaza de Bolívar, during the commemoration of labor day and the filing of the text of his popular consultation. It was not the only time he alluded to death.
Petro took a breath to launch his toughest accusations against Congress, which he directly responsible for the precarious working conditions faced by millions of workers in Colombia. Each phrase on was answered with improvised che The square, turned into a popular fervor stage.
The president did not spare in symbols or in gestures loaded with history. Appeared waving an unusual flag: with black, white and red paintings, known as war flag to the death of the liberating army led by Simón Bolívaran emblem of struggle.
Read here: yes or no? These are the questions with which Petro wants to change the work in Colombia
The president’s message was clear: Bring your political battle “to the last consequences.” Although yes, it was emphatic for the first time to say that It will not go for re -election and that on August 7, 2026 “will go.”
“I don’t even like to re -elect. How are they going to put me again in the torture to go to that cold rooms again?”He said, alluding to the Nariño Palace.
The day aroused the militant feeling of extinct struggles. In the streets the M-19 flags were seen-sold as soccer t -shirts hanging on sustained ropes from tree to tree— sneaking into the crowd, along with those allusive to the war to the death of Bolívar. Some waved among the public; Others were on the stage.
Know: Petro speaks from Bolívar Square waving the flag of the war to death and with a hard attack on congressmen
Petro, during his speech, said it was the greatest demonstration in the history of Colombia. However, in the images that he published on social networks, there was a concurrence similar to that of the traditional first of May.
That was the tone of all his speech: challenging and full of warnings with humor. Petro brought with him Bolívar’s sword, which he placed in front of him as a centerpiece of his act. From there he delivered a speech of one hour and nine minutes, interrupted again and again by applause and ovations.
Are Main attack was against Congress. Did not save adjectives: he called “Vampires” Y “HP” to those who have blocked their legislative initiatives. Then he tried to clarify: “I have not said any rudeness, eye. HP: Honorable parliamentary, journalist or politician”, Explained with laughter.
Criticism of Congress was not generic. He made direct warnings and released proper names. “The senator and the representative to the Chamber have to speak in front of the people, so I love them here, speaking between this demonstration. If in a Senate session at midnight they vote to say no to the consultation, the people of Colombia get up and revoke them,” he warned.
He also referred to the president of the SenateEfraín Cepeda, with whom he revived the pulse: “Efraín Cepeda said: ‘Hey, but those are the questions you presented, because now we can discuss them in Congress.”
Read also: Petro states that he will not seek re -election: “I don’t want that torture, power is not for me”
Not the black curtain that The Capitol covered was saved from the president’s interpretationand. By noticing his presence on the building, Petro assumed him as a hostile gesture: “Congress is surrounded today in black. As if that institution had not been constituted by the popular vote. They do not put blacks blacks from Mortaja, the Senate and the people have to speak in front,” he said.
At the close, it resorted to a rhetoric loaded with metaphors of war, peace and reconciliation: “Hopefully, for the good of Colombia, for the sake of the institutions of the Constitution of 91, for the right that Colombia has to stop living the hundred years of solitude, not to be a condemned line popular, but requests the Senate to allow the people to express themselves. ”
Between attacks, jokes, committees of applause and veiled threats, The preamble of the presentation of his popular consultation passed. As a final act, and no less symbolic, the president unleashed Bolivar’s sword, causing euphoria and screams among the attendees, many of them indigenous, older adults, unemployed and citizens mobilized from different corners of the country.
After the speech, the president addressed the Capitol in the company of several high -level officials, including the Interior Minister Armando Benedetti; the Minister of Labor; the director of the DaPre and other members of the cabinet, where the popular consultation document officially filed.
In a simple act, the Senate made it clear that if the call of the popular consultation is not approved, it will be the people who charge the account with democracy. Petro, also accompanied by spokesmen of the social groups, delivered the document to the Secretary General of the Senate, Diego González, who proceeded to sign the received, allowing the president’s formal photo.
Find out: Popular consultation by decree? Experts think about Petro’s warning
“Here we arrive with the Colombian Army, today Liberating Army. Here we arrive with the people. We arrive with the people, with the sword to power. But it is not a power for me. The Senate of the Republic has its right to decide. But what is going to decide is not little mount,” said the president.
In his short intervention, he added: “The story arrives, and the Congress of the Republic – specifically the Senate – is convened by history, not by Petro, not by progressivism, by the people who are his boss, his principal, his commander.”
And he closed stating: “We come with the sword, we come with the guard of the Liberating Army, we come with the people. We will not come armed again, but the people will come by their power.”
1. Do you agree that the day work lasts maximum eight hours and is between 6 am and 6 pm?
2. Do you agree with a 100 % surcharge work on Sunday or festive rest day?
3. Do you agree that micro, small and medium -sized preferably associative productive companies receive preferential and incentive rates for their productive projects?
4. Do you agree that people may have the necessary permits to address medical treatments and licenses for disabling menstrual periods?
5. Do you agree that companies must hire at least two people with disabilities for every 100 workers?
6. Do you agree that young apprentices of SENA and similar institutions have a employment contract?
7. Do you agree that working people on distribution platforms agree their type of contract and are guaranteed social security payment?
8. Do you agree with establishing a special labor regime so that field entrepreneurs guarantee labor rights and just salary to agricultural workers?
9. Do you agree to eliminate outsourcing and labor intermediation through union contracts that violate labor rights?
10. Do you agree that domestic workers, community mothers, journalists, athletes, artists, drivers, among other informal workers, are formalized or have access to social security?
Find out more: This is how the Petro government uses the treasury to boost marches and popular consultation
11. Do you agree to promote job stability through indefinite term contracts as a general rule?
12. Do you agree to constitute a special fund for the recognition of a pension bonus for the peasants and peasants? With this official act, the Senate has a period of 30 days to pronounce against the proposal to open the polls.
The mobilizations passed in relative calm. Hundreds of people took to the streets in the main cities of the country. It was a mostly peaceful day and without significant reports of alterations to public order.
In Medellín, more than 5,000 people mobilized From the Obrero Park, in the Boston neighborhood, the city center, and arrived at the Park of Resistance (Parque de los Desires), in a protest that developed in complete calm. The protesters, mostly belonging to the different labor unions of the companies and multinationals that are in the city, made the route that passed through neighborhoods such as Boston, Prado Centro, Villa Hermosa, Manrique and Seville.
The protesters shouted harangues in support of the reforms proposed by the National Government and that did not pass in the Congress of the Republic, as well as expressing their open support to the popular consultation.
To avoid incidents, which were not registered, from the Metropolitan Police they had a 600 uniformed device, who watched the entire route. The only thing that happened was that a group of hooded men painted facades from some commercial establishments. About 12:30 pm, the mobilization concluded with a concentration, which dissipated an hour later because of the heavy rain that fell.
