BOGOTÁ —
Thousands of
Colombians rallied nationwide Saturday against a proposed reform
that would raise taxes on the upper classes to pay for social programs.
اضافة اعلان
The legislation
is being pushed by President Gustavo Petro, the South American country’s first
elected leftist president.
“Today, we ask
the government to take into account the productive sector of the country, to
understand that tax reform is not needed in the way they are doing it,”
businessman Alvaro Aparicio, 58, told AFP in Bogota.
Wearing white and
waving the national flag, people also took to the streets in Cali,
Barranquilla, Medellin, and other cities against the bill pushed by Petro, who
took office in August.
Congress is
debating the reform, which would raise taxes on the upper classes to finance
programs to fight poverty and inequality.
Meanwhile,
Colombia like other countries around the world is enduring high inflation, as
well as an historic devaluation of the peso against the dollar. Unemployment
stands at 10.6 percent.
Petro campaigned
on a platform of raising taxes on the rich, stopping oil exploration and
distributing fertile land among landless farmers.
Former right-wing
president
Ivan Duque (2018–2022) faced massive protests in 2019, 2020, and
2021.
The bloodiest
occurred last year, when the then president tried to tax the middle class to
deal with the ravages of the pandemic.
This sparked
violent demonstrations that lasted two months and left 46 dead, including
civilians and police, according to the UN.
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