Up to eight opposition parties denounced in a joint statement the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, for attempting to carry out a “coup” after announcing his intention to push through a popular consultation on labor reform via decree, which had been rejected by the Senate.
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For these matches, it is about a “unilateral and unconstitutional action” and they appealed to the main judicial institutions of the State to act. If Petro’s initiative were to materialize, they say it would “represent a serious, open, and direct violation of the Constitution, a breach of the separation of powers”.
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What is the crisis affecting Colombia?
In mid-May, the Senate rejected a list of twelve questions about the labor reform, by 49 votes against and 47 in favor. The Government denounced that the vote was closed irregularly and that the Senate President, Efraín Cepeda, allowed one of the opposition senators’ vote to be changed after it had already been cast.
President Petro now wants to make the popular consultation viable through a presidential decree of twelve questions that he believes the Senate fraudulently rejected.
“I am going to decree the consultation. The Constitutional Court will have in its hands the decree for calling a popular consultation that I will make this week. I know that everything will come crashing down on me and that I will accelerate all the threats against me,” said the president of Colombia on Tuesday during the meeting with his cabinet.
“The people must express themselves because they are the owners of political power in Colombia,” insisted Petro, accusing Efraín Cepeda once again of having acted improperly during the vote. “What he did was a trickery,” he accused.
Since then, there have been harsh reactions against Petro’s decision.
“The Congress of the Republic, as a pillar of our democracy, exercised its constitutional function by not approving said consultation and this decision must be respected,” insisted the opposition in a statement signed, among others, by Cambio Radical, Partido Conservador, Centro Democrático, and Partido de la U.
“We express our deep concern about the serious institutional damage that this Government is causing. We cannot remain silent (...) It is time to act firmly,” states a note urging citizens to “surround the institutions and protect” the Constitution.