Petro’s call for a Constituent Assembly, in view of maneuvers by the opposition benches in Congress to stop reform initiatives proposed by his Government, ignited sparks especially from the extremist right-wing sectors.

Some of his spokesmen insisted that with such a process Petro seeks to remain in power indefinitely, something repeatedly denied by the head of State himself.

Petro rejected on Monday that the constituent process is to change the 1991 Constitution, nor to perpetuate himself in his post.

The president recalled that in over three decades, the powers created by the Constituent Assembly of 1991 have not solved several fundamental problems that hold back Colombian society; therefore, the people must solve them.

He also stated that while the 1991 Constitution was not applied in those three decades, the constituted powers were penetrated by a regime of unpunished and de facto corruption, and by a paramilitary governance that replaced the social rule of law and murdered over 100,000 Colombians to bloodily concentrate wealth.

In this regard, Petro considered it necessary to discuss in a new constituent process the fulfillment of the Peace Agreement reached between the State and the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP).

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