President Gustavo Petro has called for several mobilizations since the beginning of his government, and this Tuesday, a few days before beginning his third year, he made one more call: he invited millions of senior citizens who live in poverty to come to the Plaza de Bolívar. There, in the center of Bogotá, Petro hopes to sign and celebrate the pension reform, approved a month ago in the Congress of the Republic. This has been his only major legislative victory on social issues. The march of senior citizens is the president’s first symbol to argue that behind the reforms to come —education, health, agrarian, judicial, public services— there is a popular shield. The event, in which Gloria Inés Ramírez, the Minister of Labor, and Jaime Dussán, the president of the public company Colpensiones, will participate, will also be a thermometer to measure how massive his popular support remains. More mobilizations will follow. Petro has already announced another march for July 20, when the third year of Congress begins, with peasants who will come to support agrarian reform, and another in defense of social reforms for August 7, when the two-year government is completed.
Petro announced last week that the approval of the reform would be a public and multitudinous event in an unusual presidential speech that went unnoticed because the attention of the media and the citizens was focused on the cabinet changes. There, the first leftist president in the recent history of Colombia, sat next to an 89-year-old man named Jose del Carmen Estepa to explain the benefits of the reform, which will come into force in July 2025. “Jose del Carmen is one of the hundreds of thousands of older adults who, thanks to the reform, will have a pension bonus to live a dignified old age,” said Petro in a video that was broadcast by all national television channels.
The president was referring to the 225,000 pesos monthly bonus that will be received by the almost three million senior citizens who currently do not have a pension thanks to the solidarity pillar of the new reform. This will improve coverage for old-age protection, which today is around 24% of people of retirement age, and will reduce extreme poverty. “Today in Colombia there are three million elderly people without pensions thanks to an unfair and unequal system. Only 1 in 4 people of retirement age receives a pension and only 1 in 8 women does so. This is the second country with the highest level of social inequality in old age, only after Haiti. That is what the reform will change,” Petro told José del Carmen and all Colombians.
That meeting, in the home of a poor old man from a remote region of Colombia, recalled the political strategy that Petro used in the final stretch of his campaign for the presidency and that according to many analysts was decisive for his victory. At that time, he went to visit the homes of fishermen, miners and impoverished farmers to promise them that his eventual government would improve their living conditions. Now, two years later, the president returns to the place where he seems most comfortable: close to the humble people.
The press conference at José del Carmen’s home concluded with a specific invitation to the sanction of the pension reform: “I invite all senior citizens this July 16th, we are going to celebrate José del Carmen’s birthday and, we are going to celebrate with Colombian pride the sanction of the pension reform, which is when I sign it and it becomes law of the republic,” said Petro. And he added his last wish: “It is the first step, hopefully, towards a great agreement on the fundamentals and for peace in Colombia.”
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In the days leading up to the passing of the law that will transform the pension system, and which is so far the Government’s greatest political achievement, the president has reiterated the importance of ordinary people attending the event. “We have been misled, by decades of neoliberalism and powerful communication from capital, that we should not look at others. That triumph is a competition of solitary egos. But it is false. We would not exist on the planet today, if it were not because we are in solidarity. We love. This July 16, Plaza de Bolívar, 12 pm. The right of grandparents to retire, and live with dignity,” Petro wrote on his X account.
3 million old men and women, like José Del Carmen, who had no pension, will now be able to #PensionarseUnaRealidad.
Let’s celebrate together this Tuesday, July 16, in Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá the signing of the Pension Reform.
Together with Congress, we have achieved a conquest… pic.twitter.com/elF4clExhq
— Presidency of Colombia 🇨🇴 (@infopresidencia) July 15, 2024
Minister Gloria Inés Ramírez, for her part, explained that since the reform was approved in the House of Representatives, more than seven technical meetings have been held to regulate the most important articles of the reform. “We will issue a single regulatory decree to clear up doubts and get rid of uncertainties. The system of protection for the elderly is a reality. July 16 will be the big day, it will be the moment when the President of the Republic sanctions this law, of which we are all part. Without you it would not have been possible. We are waiting for you.”
The entire Petrista party is mobilized to create this popular symbol before the start of the third year. Vice President Francia Márquez invited people to the demonstration on her social networks, and legislators María José Pizarro, Iván Cepeda, Marta Alfonso and others from the Historic Pact have also reiterated the invitation to social mobilization to defend and celebrate the reform.
The full force of the government contrasts with the criticism of the opposition, who believe that the Constitutional Court will overturn the bill because it did not comply with the necessary procedures in Congress. The day the reform was approved in the House, many representatives criticized the decision not to debate the articles and to accept the Senate text. “They have just turned Congress into a unicameral corporation,” said Andrés Forero, of the opposition Democratic Center. “They are shamelessly pushing a block of 95 articles. We will go to the Constitutional Court in the face of such arbitrariness.” There are still several months to go before we know how the high court will rule when reviewing the constitutionality of the law. If the court overturns the pension law, Petro will send his message from Tuesday: that the decision is not against him, but against older people like José del Carmen. That is the power of a symbol.
What changes with the reform?
The reform eliminates competition between Colpensiones and private funds. Now, the two regimes complement each other in a single system, as happens in other countries around the world. To achieve this objective, the new old-age protection system is divided into four pillars.
Solidarity Pillar: seeks to provide a monetary transfer to vulnerable older adults who were unable to contribute and are living in poverty.
Semi-contributory pillar: This is aimed at people who are in the informal sector and who do not meet the requirements to access a pension, but who have contributed at certain times. Those in this pillar will be given, through a life annuity, the money they have saved plus a state subsidy, of 20% in the case of men and 30% in the case of women.
Contributory pillar: this group includes those who contribute steadily towards their pension. With the reform, the contributions they make for incomes of up to 2.3 minimum wages, more or less 2.9 million pesos, will go to Colpensiones, and the rest will go to the private fund of their choice. Upon retirement, they will have a public pension, with a state subsidy, only for that first part, and the rest under the rules of the private funds.
Voluntary Pillar: People with the capacity to pay may make an additional contribution to ensure a better pension for their old age in the future.
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