Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Colombia's main cities on Sunday to protest against leftist President Gustavo Petro. They protested against the plan for social reforms, particularly health reforms, which the right and the extreme right are blocking in Congress.
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Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Colombia on Sunday, April 21 in the largest mobilization faced by the leftist president, Gustavo Petro, since his election in 2022.
At the behest of medical organizations, the opposition, centrist political forces and former allies who reject several reforms, including his plan to nationalize health services, these demonstrators also protested against the violence that continues despite peace negotiations with armed groups.
“I voted for change, for Petro, but we are still in the same situation. I am speaking out because I believe that Colombia still has hope and I love my country,” Martha Estrada, a 64-year-old retiree, dressed in a tricolor hat, told AFP. , in Bogota.
Although the president did not speak directly, he published on X a video of an old television satire, in which the “ruling class” protests.
Get out Petro!
This is not the first demonstration against the Petro Government, but it is the first of such a scale throughout the country.
In the capital, despite the rain, tens of thousands of protesters headed towards Plaza Bolívar, near the presidential headquarters, AFP reported.
In Cali in the southwest, Medellín in the northwest, Barranquilla in the north, Bucaramanga in the northeast and other cities, protesters joined the movement with Colombian flags, white shirts and a unanimous cry: Out with Petro!
One of his reform projects, health, divided the country, when President Petro began to implement several administrative axes despite the difficulties encountered in obtaining the support of Congress.
Bankruptcy of the health system
The president wants to reduce the participation of the private sector in the provision of health services and, in recent days, several entities that serve as intermediaries between the State and hospitals have intervened, in order to control their budgets.
Experts agree that the health system is bankrupt and needs to be reformed, but some wonder how the Government intends to do it.
Under the name of the “march of the white coats”, some doctors expressed their “dissatisfaction with the current management of the health system by the government.”
According to Invamer, 56% of those surveyed in April rejected the Government “intervening in some EPS (private entities that manage public health resources) in Colombia to directly manage the system.”
According to a recent report from the Comptroller's Office, the entity in charge of reviewing public accounts, indicates that 18 of the 26 EPS that operate in the country have diverted money that has not been allocated to the health care of the population.
Specifically, this report estimates 9 trillion pesos (about 2.3 million dollars) diverted from the State coffers by these entities, only in the years 2020 and 2021.
Peace negotiations
In different cities, protesters carried banners that referred to the insecurity and violence of rebels and drug traffickers in the countryside.
“This man protects the guerrilla thugs more than the good people of this country (…) It is time to unite so that he understands that it is not us who are powerful, but rather the entire people, the working middle class, who need a change,” said Betty Ospina, a 67-year-old protester.
The Government's ambitious “total peace” policy, which aims to defuse six decades of armed conflict, is suffering setbacks.
Critics reject concessions won by armed groups in peace negotiations, despite frequent violations of the agreement and few signs of willingness to lay down their arms.
Negotiations with the guerrilla National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissidents of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have gone through several crises due to murders, kidnappings and attacks on security forces.
70% of Colombians believe that the country's situation is “getting worse,” according to Invamer.
Gustavo Petro came to power in August 2022, becoming the first left-wing man to govern a country traditionally governed by conservative elites.
With a disapproval rate of 60%, according to the Invamer polling institute, the president has lost much of the support of political forces in Congress and on the streets.
With AFP
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