Thousands of Colombians protested against leftist President Gustavo Petro’s reform agenda on Sunday.
AP reports that the protests took place in several cities. The capital was not left behind. Protesters filled Bolivar Plaza outside the presidential palace in Bogota.
Protests have been ongoing since Petro took power in 2022, but they have taken a new dimension recently. Petro, who used to be a leftist guerrilla, floated the possibility of rewriting the constitution so that he could carry out his social reforms in the face of hostile opposition from Congress and conservative business groups.
Petro suffered an important defeat when Colombia’s congress refused to pass legislation to boost state control of the country’s healthcare system, which would have improved and lowered the cost of medical care. In response, Petro decreed the takeover of two of the country’s top medical insurers.
