Thousands of citizens have taken to the streets of the main cities of Colombia this Wednesday to demand improvements in labor conditions and in the education system, among other demands, in what is the first national strike called by unions and civil society organizations against the government of President Abelardo de la Espriella.
In Bogotá, the capital, a crowd has begun the mobilization that has ended up concentrating in Bolívar Square, causing detours and delays in public transport despite the rain, and gathering figures from the opposition Pacto Histórico such as the former presidential candidate Iván Cepeda, who hours earlier had denounced on his social media an "intimidation strategy" of the Colombian government aimed at "repressing" the protest.
"The Colombian people cannot be intimidated with arbitrary decisions like those being made by De la Espriella," Cepeda has stated from the march, according to a statement released by him shortly after, in which he points out the decree approved by the far-right president to modify the protocols of action of the security forces in protests as a measure that "buries dialogue as a way to address social mobilization and seeks to impose the use of force again."
In this context, Cepeda has warned that the government intends to dismantle the rights and democratic advances attributed to the mandate of Gustavo Petro in the last four years and "plunge millions of people whom our government had lifted out of misery into poverty." "We will not allow the rights of the people to be violated and trampled. Here we are peacefully; we are not going to let them take away what we have already conquered," he has emphasized.
The march has also been joined by former president Petro himself, who in images shared on his social media about the protest has defended that "this is how one responds to adversity with dignity with the desire to win again, without fear." "Life is the companion and not death. The people do not surrender, damn it," he has added, referring to the slogan of Argentine President Javier Milei.
In addition to the opposition bloc, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), the Federación Colombiana de Educadores (FECODE), university collectives, and various civil society platforms have promoted the call, articulating labor, educational, economic, and territorial claims, as well as the rejection of the policies announced by the current Government.
The mobilizations take place a day after the far-right leader signed decree 1525, already in force, which "defines the new protocol of action for the authorities in the context of public demonstrations," according to a statement from the Colombian Presidency, and which "regulates the legitimate use of state force to protect citizens and guarantee the right to peaceful protest."
"The right to protest is not above the right to work, study, mobilize, and live in peace!" stated De la Espriella when presenting a measure that, he claims, seeks to "strengthen the guarantees of those who manifest peacefully and ensure that the authorities act, within the framework of the law, against those who intend to sow chaos."
The initial article of the decree establishes that "in the face of acts of violence, the obligation to prioritize dialogue and mediation constitutes a rule of preference (...) and not a prior requirement that conditions, suspends, or postpones the actions" of the security forces.