Labor Day is a date on which all workers who have fought for their labor rights are celebrated. In Colombia, every year there is a march organized by labor confederations and unions to commemorate and demand better labor guarantees. However, this year it had a modification and it was the President’s call to take to the streets in favor of the current government, generating diverse reactions throughout the country.
However, the march had a political addition, since President Gustavo Petro through his account on X, and after the marches that occurred on April 21 against his government, called on people to take to the streets on that day in a show of support for the reforms being studied in Congress on health, pensions and labor.
The largest concentrations took place in Bogotá with a concentration point in the Plaza de Bolívar, where the President made a one-hour speech in which some of the main topics were support for Palestine and the breaking of relations with Israel, attacks against former president Álvaro Uribe and his statements about the working day. He ended by talking about inequality in the territories and upcoming bills on investment in the agricultural industry.
Likewise, in the streets near the National University, there were alterations and damage to TransMilenio stations and graffiti in the capital.
In Medellín the march had its main point in Parque Berrio, downtown, where a sit-in was held by more than 9,000 people who attended. Some members of the main unions in the Antioquia region such as the Unitary Central of Workers (CUT), the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and the Confederation of Colombian Workers (CTC) expressed their disagreement with the president for using this date as a political platform.
Likewise, in the city, damage was reported to public and private properties such as the Boston CAI, which was vandalized with paint, graffiti on various buildings along the route and in Metroplus stations, as well as broken glass in a Banco Itau headquarters in this sector, among other alterations attended to by the police during the day.
For its part, in Cali, the meeting place was the monument to the resistance located in the southeast of the city. People from the department of Cauca, such as indigenous and Afro-descendants, were also present in this mobilization, as was the presence of Vice President Francia Márquez.
Other cities that marched were Popayán, Pasto, Sincelejo, Barranquilla, Tunja and Cartagena.
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