Thousands march across Colombia in anti-government protests

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Thousands of demonstrators marched through Colombia’s major cities on Tuesday to protest the government of leftist President Gustavo Petro.

At least 90,000 people throughout the country took part in “The March of the Majority" in Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Pereira and Bucaramanga to protest against a raft of proposals to reform healthcare, pensions and the labor system.

Protesters dressed in white also chanted against Petro’s attempts to give criminals immunity in exchange for laying down their arms.

Since taking office in August last year, Petro has been seeking a "total peace" policy to end a 60-year armed conflict between the state and various illegal groups that are still active in the country.

Although the government has sought to give criminal groups the same concessions that were given to Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas in negotiations that led to a peace accord in 2016, there has been no willingness on the part of these groups to renounce violence.

In the framework of total peace and in the midst of this dissatisfaction, Petro has also suspended court orders on six members of the FARC guerrillas to appoint them as "peace promoters" who will take part in these negotiations.

Some of the reforms that Petro vowed to enact have failed to be adopted in Congress after the government refused to make concessions on the bills and after Petro lost his majority backing in the legislature since coming to power.

This is in the wake of recent scandals involving the government. Many waved Colombia's yellow, blue and red flag and held up posters calling the president corrupt after he was accused of illegal financing during his election campaign.

Petro was also caught up in a scandal involving a former aide's alleged illegal wiretapping of a nanny suspected of stealing a briefcase full of money, which has eroded his popularity. He has denied the accusations.