MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Petro calls for 'general and indefinite strike' if successor repeals his reforms

Petro warned that a repeal of the labor reform, approved in June last year, would in his view represent a setback for workers' rights

Colombia's outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, called on Monday for a “general and indefinite strike” should the government of his successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, repeal his administration's labor reform or reverse the land reform. De la Espriella, elected in the June 21 runoff, will take office on August 7.

“The opposition is exercised in the streets, with resistance and with peace, but it must be forceful,” Petro said during his last public address in southern Bogotá, delivered to mark Independence Day. He argued that social mobilization should become the main mechanism of opposition to the incoming government and encouraged unions and peasant, Indigenous and grassroots organizations to peacefully defend the reforms passed during his four-year term.

Petro warned that a repeal of the labor reform, approved in June last year, would in his view represent a setback for workers' rights. “If they are going to tear down the job stability and working conditions won under this government, there will be a general and indefinite strike in Colombia,” he said. He added that if the incoming government alters land-access policies, “there will be a national agrarian strike.”

The president-elect, a right-wing leader of the Defensores de la Patria movement, has announced that he will review several of the current government's main reforms, including the labor reform, arguing they harm job creation and the country's competitiveness. De la Espriella has not so far proposed an immediate repeal, but a review.

Petro does not recognize his successor's election, alleging fraud —a claim he has not substantiated and that runs counter to the official validation of the result. The National Electoral Council proclaimed De la Espriella president-elect on June 24, after completing the runoff count, in which he obtained 49.66% of the vote against 48.70% for the leftist Iván Cepeda. Cepeda himself accepted the defeat and announced he would take a seat in Congress under the opposition statute.

Monday's speech was Petro's final address to the public as president. He indicated he would continue to take part in political life from the opposition once he hands over power on August 7. That same Monday he was due to speak again at the seat of Congress, for the installation of the new legislative session.