Bogota.- A Colombian flag approximately ten meters long led the demonstration this Wednesday against the Government of Gustavo Petro in Bogotá, where the attendance was much lower than that registered on June 21 in another protest that had also been called by the president’s opponents.
With the chants of “No more Petro, no more corruption” and “Petro Chao”, the latter sung to the chords of the famous song “Bella Ciao”, the protesters they walked from the National Park to the Plaza Simón Bolívar in the center of the city.
The noise of the whistles predominated in a protest that included the participation of Senator Miguel Uribe, one of the leaders of the Uribista Democratic Center party and one of the conveners of the demonstrations.
«It is an opportunity to oppose inconvenient reforms, to propose changes but not destruction, it is the opportunity to defend the public forceto face that violence that is hurting the country and build an alternative vision of the future, hope and well-being,” Uribe explained to EFE.
On this day, in which Colombian flags predominated and there were not many banners, Beyond some in which you could read “I love you prisoner” or “I say no to Petro Reforma”, it was also an opportunity to criticize the current mayoress of Bogotá, Claudia López.
Besides, Some candidates for mayor in the elections, which will be held on October 29, took the opportunity to take a mass bathsuch as retired general José Luís Vargas, from the right-wing Cambio Radical party, or Diego Molano, who was Defense Minister during the government of Uribista Iván Duque.
Criticism of defense policy
The protesters also criticized the government’s energy policy, as well as the insecurity that, for example, claimed the lives of four police officers over the weekend in the convulsed department of Cauca (southwest), a crime that has been blamed on dissidents from the FARC seeking to negotiate peace with the Government.
“Today we are supporting the police and the Army because we are facing a thug government, an accomplice of the guerrillas”Ormilso Reina, a retired police officer, told EFE, criticizing that his colleagues “are being vilely murdered from behind.”
Senator Miguel Uribe also spoke about insecurity in the country, pointing out that “the public force is unprotected” because, according to what he says, the growing presence in the territories of the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN); the Clan del Golfo, the main criminal gang in the country, and the dissidents.
“Petro’s first year in government is a wasted year, he has damaged the economy too quickly and at the same time (there is) growing insecurity,” Uribe declared.
In cities like Medellín or Cali, Colombians dissatisfied with the president’s management also took to the streets with banners such as “We want a president, not a criminal” or “Petro betrayed the country.”
