May 1: Petro's show of force
May 1: Petro's show of force
After the opposition's April 21 protests, Petro answered the challenged on May 1, Labour Day, mobilizing a sizable crowd to support him and his government.
On April 21, anti-Petro protests mobilized a diverse, through predominantly right-wing, crowd of over 250,000 people across the country. On May 1, Labour Day, Petro answered the challenge, with robust turnout on the streets for pro-government demonstrations. A clear sign that despite his unpopularity, Petro retains substantial support from his left-wing electoral base.
Back and forth
Colombian politics under Petro has turned into a back and forth cycle of pro-government demonstrations and opposition protests, a competition of numerical strength and combative rhetoric. The right-wing opposition proves its strength on the streets with regular organized protests, organized by right-wing influencers and mobilized by right-wing politicians. The ‘government of change’ tries to prove that it retains the people’s mandate from 2ch022 and that it has the support of ‘popular forces’. Petro is looking to the streets for support that he doesn’t have in Congress and to measure his strength.
As I’ve previously written, as he’s become frustrated with the difficulties in implementing his agenda and felt cornered by the onslaught of scandals and judicial investigations (against his son, his 2022 campaign’s finances etc.), Petro’s rhetoric has grown increasingly populist and radical—as shown with his constituent assembly idea, since watered down to a nebulous ‘constituent process’. Petro has claimed that his opponents are plotting a coup against him, drawing parallels to Salvador Allende. All this has fueled a constant confrontation with the opposition.
Petro’s May 1
Petro had announced that he would join organized labour’s traditional parades on May 1 and address the crowd from the Plaza de Bolívar in downtown Bogotá. He called on a “general mobilization of citizens” for the dignity of labour, for labour stability, for the right to retire, for better salaries, among other demands.
On Labour Day, the symbolism was clear and obvious: this is the government of workers, standing for workers’ rights and for the dignity of work. Petro called on everyone, what he’s sometimes called the ‘popular forces’, to join: workers in all fields, in both the formal and informal economies, campesinos, indigenous peoples and lower-income youth.
Labour Day mobilizations in Colombia are traditionally organized and convened by the main trade union confederations: the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), the largest one, the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) and the Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia (CTC). The statement by the labour unions and their allies (pensioners’ associations, left-wing movements and the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca, CRIC) said they would take to the streets in defence of “life, democracy, the social reforms, total peace and against the coup d’état. This year, the unions coordinated the day with the Pacto Histórico and the government.
Organized labour, particularly the left-wing CUT, has been a key part of the left’s electoral base, and most unions remain firmly behind Petro and support the government’s agenda. Union members, as well as the indigenous movement, have been the backbone of most pro-government demonstrations since 2023. However, the CGT has been divided: the president of a faction critical of the government worried about how Petro was ‘using’ the international day of the labour movement and said that they’d march in defence of their autonomy and independence, while the president of the pro-government faction welcomed Petro’s participation. The CGT Antioquia even said they wouldn’t participate, accusing Petro of instrumentalizing organized labour and that it wasn’t a ‘socialist country’.
The government promoted the day with videos on social media, ads on government websites and a shocking amount of bad AI-generated images. Even Petro posted some very bad AI images with misspellings of the government’s slogan or deformed faces.
A successful demonstration of force
Petro wanted for May 1 to measure up to April 21 and to answer the challenge. A strong turnout in Bogotá and across Colombia showed that Petro was successful.
In Bogotá, the crowd filled the Plaza de Bolívar and some overflowed onto surrounding streets. According to local authorities, 55,000 people participated in Bogotá, which is less than the crowds on April 21 (around 80,000-90,000 in the capital) but still very significant. Petro tweeted pictures and videos of the May 1 demonstrations in cities across Colombia, including Barranquilla, Medellín, Cali, Manizales, Cartagena, Pereira, Neiva, Quibdó, Sincelejo and Barrancabermeja.
Right-wingers have claimed that a lot of those who participated were paid or forced to do so by their unions or the government (in case of public servants and contractors). While this may have been the case for some, many demonstrated ‘spontaneously’, not part of any union or left-wing movement. Those who participated expressed their support for Petro and his government’s reforms—the pension reform, the labour reform, agrarian reform—as well as union demands typical of May 1.
In Cali, a symbolic city for Petro because of his strength among indigenous and black voters in the southwestern Colombia, Vice President Francia Márquez, environment minister Susana Muhamad and planning director Alexander López addressed the crowd. In Bogotá, former Medellín mayor Daniel Quintero and former Magdalena governor Carlos Caicedo—two putative 2026 left-wing candidates—marched with the crowds. Quintero wore a shirt saying ‘4+’, which he said meant four more years of ‘progressive’ governance after 2026.
Petro’s combative speech
In Bogotá, Petro spoke for an hour, giving one of his long speeches talking about anything and everything. He began by announcing that Colombia would break diplomatic relations with Israel “for having a genocidal government.” He continued by defending the labour reform (“profit comes from productivity, not from slavery”), healthcare reform (“healthcare is not a commodity”) and the pension reform (“they turned pensions into a bankers’ business”). He said that the government must move forward by removing obstacles, “with courage, without fear,” adding that any minister who was afraid should step aside and let someone else do it. He disparaged his opponents at length, going after Álvaro Uribe as well as Keralty (the owners of EPS Sanitas, a health insurance provider intervened by the government), one of his favourite targets of late (he’s accused them of making illegal campaign donation, as a foreign company, to congressmen who voted to defeat Petro’s healthcare reform in April).
He talked about history, the ‘stolen’ 1970 elections, praising and celebrating the M-19 and saying that “we are still revolutionaries” and “today’s rebels, from government.” As his rhetoric has gotten more radical, Petro has invoked the M-19—a divisive, controversial and painful topic—even more and attached himself to its (idealized) legacy. Like his immediate predecessor, Petro enjoys using the ‘rear view mirror’ (criticizing his predecessors): his speech included several references to the false positives, the police brutality in the repression of the 2019-2021 protests, the Odebrecht and Ñeñepolítica scandals as well as more distant examples like former president Julio César Turbay (whose name appears in a recently published US National Security Archive ‘narco dossier’ from 1977, with ties to drug trafficking)
Petro discredited the opposition’s April 21 protests, calling it the “march of the coffins, the death march”, essentially saying that those who participated that day were either deceived or hate-filled extremists who feel ‘social selfishness’, don’t care about violence and want to maintain things as they are. Petro said that these people hate him because of his skin colour, because he was “born in a humble home,” because he went to a public school and because he doesn’t belong to “that ignorant pseudo-aristocracy dressed as slaveowners.” This isn’t surprising, because Petro had quickly minimized the April 21 protests.
After criticizing his opponents, Petro revisited his old ‘national agreement’ (acuerdo nacional) idea, but made it quite clear that a ‘national agreement’ was to be on his terms and connected it to his ‘constituent process’ idea, saying that a national agreement is written in ‘constituent letters’. He said that the constituent process isn’t about reelection for him, because he’s not addicted to power like Uribe.
His speech was confrontational and bellicose, angling for a fight: “the more they challenge us to confrontation, the more joy it gives us. We are not going back. The history of Colombia has definitely changed and there is no turning back.”
Petro again claimed that his opponents are plotting a coup, and vowed that “if they attempt a coup, they will fight the people on the streets.”
He concluded with a call to his supporters to organize themselves, as some want to overthrow democracy while some want to build a deeper democracy.
A cycle of polarization until 2026
The government-backed Labour Day demonstrations on May 1 met the challenge posed by the opposition on April 21. While Petro is quite unpopular—according to most polls, his disapproval is around 60% and his approval rating around 30-35%—he does retain the support of a well organized and motivated left-wing base, including but not limited to organized labour, the indigenous movement and left-wing political parties and other left-wing activists. This pro-Petro base has proven that it can be numerically significant on the streets, and that Petro can count on them to rally in his defence.
Both the opposition’s protests on April 21 and the pro-government demonstrations on May 1 drew significant crowds—it’d be intellectually dishonest to try to argue otherwise. This is part of a cycle of polarization that’ll last until the 2026 elections. The opposition, including some centrists and a few disgruntled Petro voters, will continue regular protests, pushed by Petro’s populist and Manichean rhetoric. Petro, who is increasingly unlikely to score any more major victories in Congress, will increasingly look to the streets for support that he doesn’t have in Congress or in the mainstream media. Until 2026, the streets will be one of the main venues for the confrontation between Petro and all his opponents—with all the heated, overwrought rhetoric that entails.
Thanks for reading.