Petro calls for 'general and indefinite strike' if successor repeals his reforms

Monday, July 20th 2026 - 20:12 UTC

Petro warned that a repeal of the labor reform, approved in June last year, would in his view represent a setback for workers' rights

Colombia's outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, called on Monday for a “general and indefinite strike” should the government of his successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, repeal his administration's labor reform or reverse the land reform. De la Espriella, elected in the June 21 runoff, will take office on August 7.

“The opposition is exercised in the streets, with resistance and with peace, but it must be forceful,” Petro said during his last public address in southern Bogotá, delivered to mark Independence Day. He argued that social mobilization should become the main mechanism of opposition to the incoming government and encouraged unions and peasant, Indigenous and grassroots organizations to peacefully defend the reforms passed during his four-year term.

Petro warned that a repeal of the labor reform, approved in June last year, would in his view represent a setback for workers' rights. “If they are going to tear down the job stability and working conditions won under this government, there will be a general and indefinite strike in Colombia,” he said. He added that if the incoming government alters land-access policies, “there will be a national agrarian strike.”