Colombians Mobilize in Support of Pension Reform and Against ‘Institutional’ Coup That Would Seek To Remove Gustavo Petro

Pablo Meriguet, Orinoco Tribune, September 19, 2024 — 

The President of Colombia had alerted last week that the opposition seeks to remove him from office in a legal maneuver and replace him with the head of the legislature.

Thousands of Colombians took to the plazas of towns and cities across the country on September 19 to reject the attempts by the Colombian right-wing to overthrow the democratically elected government of Gustavo Petro and ratify their support to his government’s Pension Reform. The latest plot was denounced by the head of state last week on September 12, when Petro outlined that there was a plan underway to overthrow his government and replace him with Efrain Cepeda Sarabia, who is currently the president of the Congress of the Republic.

The conspiracy denounced by Petro

According to Petro, the plan would consist of accusing him of having violated the electoral law and proceeding to remove him from office so that Cepeda may occupy his position: “They want to tell Colombians that the President violated the law, and he did not violate it, to produce a political process of impeachment of the President in the Accusations Commission of the Chamber [of the Legislature]. There is a lot of money moving behind it. And they don’t want us to say so.”

Supposedly, the law that the president would have broken refers to alleged excessive spending in the electoral campaign, an accusation defended by judges Alvaro Prada and Benjamin Ortiz in the National Electoral Council (CNE). If the CNE were to determine that Petro and Ricardo Roa (head of the electoral campaign with which Petro triumphed) are guilty of having spent more money than allowed, it could simply decide to carry out an administrative sanction. However, the electoral body could also choose to send the file to the Commission of Accusations of the Chamber (which serves as the judge of the President of the Republic), in which case it would open the way for a possible impeachment trial, which could lead to Petro’s removal from office.

According to Petro, the plan resembles coups d’etats carried out in Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru, where the Legislative served as a “legal” agent to remove democratically elected presidents from office under the excuse of supposedly having broken some law. “They want that on the last day, when the [congress people] already remove the President, as they did in Bolivia, as they did in Brazil, as they did in Peru, killing people, then the next president of the Republic, in this presidential term, is allowed to be Mr. Cepeda, president of the Senate,” he said.

Furthermore, Petro pointed out that the conspiracy would not come from the military, but would be an “institutional” coup d’état, promoted by the state institutions themselves. “No, friends, the coup will not be carried out by soldiers, who all have the order from their constitutional commander not to raise a single weapon against the people. It will be carried out with ties and desks and this is the proof. They had to disqualify the president to start the coup unconstitutionally and it begins on Monday,” the former president said.

Mass mobilizations against the coup

Amid threats denounced by the president of Colombia, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to show their support for the reforms promoted by Petro and his government. Shouting “Petro, my friend, the people are with you,” thousands of demonstrators belonging to various social movements, unions, and political parties showed their support in Bogotá’s Plaza Bolivar for Petro’s administration.

The Presidency of Colombia wrote, “Citizens, social movements and unions unite in defense of the Pension Reform. The Government of Change is promoting rights so that in Colombia there is a dignified old age and we cannot go backward. The pension must be a right and not a privilege.” In addition, it was clarified that the pension reform and retirement system covers a greater number of Colombians. “The objective of this law is to protect those who have a lot ]of money] or have little. It expands social protection coverage from 24% to 87% [of the population],” Petro articulated.

For his part, Petro took advantage of the popular mobilization in favor of the pension reform to declare that the coup plotters “Will not pass!” since the people support the government. “Here what they want is to erase the possibility that a progressive project can exist in Colombia, win elections and govern; here what they want is that the same heirs with their family names continue during the whole 21st century governing Colombia… leaving the people in poverty and misery.”

He also clarified that those who were also behind the coup plans are the big media that sought to undermine the public image of the president. “[And in this plan] is helping the big capital inserted in the media. Insulting Petro every day, slandering him every day, harassing his family every day, hiding the achievements of the government… Why do they want to damage the image of the President and the Government before public opinion? To overthrow him, either they kill him or overthrow him, they say. Well, we cannot allow it.”

The Colombian president affirmed that the US ambassador himself confirmed the news that the Colombian presidency had reported several weeks ago about an apparent plan to assassinate the president, which would make up an intricate plan to destroy the progressive government. Despite the threats and plots, Petro plans to use popular mobilization to prevent a coup from coming to fruition.