Previously, Benedetti confirmed to the press that citizens submitted 20,000 questions about the labor market, a topic that will be explored in this citizen participation exercise.

The Minister emphasized that the objective of the process is to promote key aspects of the Labor Reform, which was defeated in the Senate’s Seventh Committee on March 18th. “Through this consultation, we will seek to strengthen democracy and ensure that labor rights are a priority on our national agenda,” he stated.

The news about the release of the questions was announced the day before during a national address by President Gustavo Petro, who stated that on May 1st he will personally attend the Senate accompanied by a delegation to file the ballot designed for the citizen participation exercise, with a view to its discussion beginning there.

The President invited the population to take to the streets en masse and replicate previous marches throughout the country. “I will be in Plaza de Bolívar (in downtown Bogotá) that day and I will enter Congress to personally present the text to the Senate with a delegation, as diverse as possible, and I will draw Bolívar’s sword,” he commented.

Petro also noted that the Latin American hero’s weapon will remain unsheathed until there is social justice in the country. “It is Bolívar who ultimately calls for the popular consultation,” he stated, explaining that the 1991 Constitution establishes that power emanates exclusively from the will of the people. “If the referendum belongs to the people, it is the people who must come out to defend it forcefully, in peace, in joy, the people who command, not those who obey, not those who kneel, but those who look each other in the eye and give orders,” he emphasized.

The holding of a referendum must receive the approval of the Senate Plenary, which has one month to rule on it. If approved, the Government has a maximum of three months to call citizens to the polls.

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