Thousands of people protested this Monday (26) in Colombia’s main cities against a package proposed by President Gustavo Petro that includes tax increases for the rich and land reform. The leftist took office in August and presented the reform the day after taking office.
In Bogotá, protesters gathered in Plaza Bolivar, next to the government headquarters, chanting “Out, Petro!” Peaceful acts also took to the streets of Medellín, Cali, Bucaramanga and other regional capitals.
Petro became the first leftist president in Colombia’s history, winning just over half of the electorate with a platform that predicted raising taxes on the rich, reducing dependence on oil and promoting agrarian reform that would sell properties to poor farmers at lower prices. from the market.
To put these initiatives into practice, Petro formed a majority legislative coalition with the support of several traditional parties — the right-wing acronym Centro Democrático, headed by former president Álvaro Uribe, leads the opposition.
Petro urged lawmakers to pass a tax reform that would yield $5.6 billion for social programs next year aimed at alleviating poverty. The text increases taxes on those earning more than $2,259 a month, about ten times the minimum wage.
In a social network on Monday, the president said he respects the right of protesters to express themselves.
Petro was not in the capital, because he traveled to participate in an act in which Venezuela and Colombia reopened the land border to cargo vehicles and pedestrians. The crossing had seven years of partial closure and three of total closure due to political differences.
In statements to the press, the Colombian president called the restrictions “a suicide that must not be repeated.” Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro sent representatives of the regime to the ceremony.
According to the authorities, trucks will return with coal, coffee and aluminum to Colombia and with processed foods and hygiene articles to Venezuela.
The first vehicle decorated with a Venezuelan flag on the hood and balloons over the cabin crossed from Venezuela to Colombia at 12:35 pm local time (1:35 pm GMT); 17 minutes later, another, displaying the Colombian flag, crossed the Simón Bolívar international bridge, located between the Venezuelan city of San Antonio del Táchira and the Colombian city of Cúcuta, in the opposite direction.
Petro said there was no set date for a likely face-to-face meeting with Maduro — he crossed the border to the Venezuelan side to greet delegates from the Caracas regime.
The reopening of the border is a first step for countries to try to recover commercial exchange that reached US$ 7.2 billion annually in 2008 and plummeted to US$ 400 million in 2021. The cargo crossing will be open between 10 am and 17:00, and the pedestrian one, between 5:00 and 18:00.
Venezuela and Colombia also resumed direct flights between the two countries this Monday. A plane from the small Venezuelan company Turpial reopened the Caracas-Bogotá route — initially, the trip would have been made by a state-owned Conviasa aircraft, but US sanctions forced the replacement, according to Colombian authorities.
Venezuela and the neighboring country resumed diplomatic relations after Petro came to power, with a promise to “normalize” the 2,200 km binational border, affected by smuggling and the presence of armed groups.
Relations had been broken in 2019, when the government of then-President Iván Duque recognized opponent Juan Guaidó as the president in charge of Venezuela, amid questions about the re-election of Maduro, described as fraudulent by his opponents.
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