- Petro to seek seat in assembly
President Petro said that, as he would no longer be president, he would seek to participate in his proposed constituent assembly as an “ordinary citizen”.
Nearly a year ago, in July 2024, Petro set out nine priorities for constitutional reform, including universal rights to healthcare, education and pensions; agrarian reform; climate adaptation; and political reform. The latter is the issue which has raised most concern among the opposition. Petro has insisted that he does not seek to modify the constitution to allow presidential re-election. However, his furious response to the checks and balances provided by congress on issues such as tax, labour, and health reform, have heightened fears that he may hope to weaken the power of congress and expand presidential authority. The legality of Petro’s plan to hold a vote on forming a constituent assembly is highly dubious, given that the current constitution states that such a referendum would first need to be approved by both chambers of congress. The senate president, Efraín Cepeda, of the opposition Partido Conservador (PC), who has repeatedly locked horns with Petro, attempted to shoot down the proposal. The plan, Cepeda said, “is not viable because there can be no shortcuts in democracy”. Petro’s announcement on constitutional reform was also notable for its timing, coming as Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a presidential aspirant for the right-wing Centro Democrático (CD), remains in a grave condition from a gunshot wound he suffered to the head on 7 June. Petro’s critics, from the opposition benches to the White House, have pointed out that the assassination attempt on Uribe Turbay came in the context of a rapidly deteriorating political climate that has seen Petro’s rhetoric towards congress grow increasingly hostile [WR-25-23]. On 24 June Uribe’s lawyer, Víctor Mosquera, formally asked the congressional accusations commission, which is responsible for impeachment proceedings, to carry out an investigation into Petro’s verbal attacks on Uribe prior to the shooting. Mosquera said that “there are over 43 social media posts in which [Petro] fuelled a hostile, discriminatory and hateful environment regarding Miguel Uribe; I’m not suggesting that he’s directly responsible for the attack…but he did create the atmosphere in which the attack was carried out and that’s why we’re presenting a criminal complaint”. Mosquera cited a social media post published two days before the shooting in which Petro brushed aside Uribe’s criticism, dismissing him as “the grandson of a president who ordered the torture of 10,000 Colombians” – a reference to Uribe’s grandfather Julio César Turbay (1978-1982), who introduced security statutes that escalated the crackdown on guerrilla groups and drug trafficking organisations. The government can probably expect similar criticism for the remaining 14 months of Petro’s term, further reducing his depleted political capital. María Fernanda Carrascal, of the ruling left-wing Pacto Histórico coalition, hit back at the threat of legal or political repercussions for Petro, denouncing “the weaponisation of tragedy” by Mosquera and the opposition.Mixed signals Five days after his announcement that he would seek a vote on a constituent assembly, President Petro said on 25 June that “I don’t want a new constitution, what we really need to do is apply the current one…The existing constitution is not being applied and the responsibility for this lies with those who have led Colombia for the last 34 years”. Petro played a role in drafting the 1991 constitution as a co-founder of Alianza Democrática M-19 – the political party born from the demobilisation of the M-19 guerrilla group, which was the second-largest force in the 1991 constituent assembly.
Petro promulgates labour reform On 25 June President Petro promulgated the labour reform bill that was approved in the congressional conciliation process five days earlier. Despite having been watered down from the government’s initial proposal, the reform still amounts to a radical overhaul of Colombian labour law. Among other things, it mandates a shorter working day, enhanced rights for gig and agricultural workers and apprentices, restrictions on short-term contracts, and a new pension fund for peasant farmers. On the same day, Petro revoked a decree which had convened a referendum on the government’s original, more radical, reform proposal, which he had used to pressure congress not to dilute the bill further during the conciliation phase. End of preview - This article contains approximately 1063 words.Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
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