Published 06/14/2026 10:39
“We had never had the opportunity to govern Colombia and today we demonstrate that we managed well and, despite all the sabotage of the legislature and the judiciary, much better than all the previous ones. We now need to dismantle the reigning neoliberalism, something we were unable to do in the first government because we had a Congress of the Republic opposed to President Gustavo Petro.”
The statement by federal deputy Ana Erazo, elected from Valle do Cauca, was made at the “A ceiling for my people” foundation in Cali, which, together with numerous social movements, joined forces with the final stretch of the Historic Pact campaign. “We will win with Cepeda! Our people do not accept fascism”, he emphasized, condemning the six decades of bloodbath that decimated popular organizations and parties such as the Patriotic Union (UP).
The climate of persecution from the ultra-right has intensified close to the second round, on the 21st, especially when Trump’s candidate and US citizen Abelardo de la Espriella openly defended “gutting the left”. “He has directly declared that he will destroy us, he is an apologist and a terrible promoter of fascism, to such an extent that there are people who leave their homes with a machete to defend him. What we are seeing is a fanatical campaign of death against life”, he condemned.
Faced with such behavior, explained Ana Erazo, “we are reinforcing the complaint against Abelardo, who defended paramilitaries, drug traffickers and feminicides. Furthermore, he proposes a copy of Bukele’s repression and mega-prisons project in El Salvador [país onde a responsabilidade penal começa aos 12 anos]”.
The parliamentarian pointed out that guided by this macabre understanding, “two days before the elections they invaded and robbed the Casa dos Povos in Cali, taking several documents, which made us call the police to guarantee a minimum of security, since our lives are always at risk”. “I myself have had five threats. Our senator Alexander López escaped death in May when he was campaigning in Valle del Cauca. They hijacked his truck, covered the car with bullets and the driver managed to escape because he opened the door and jumped into motion”, he reported.
ELECT CEPEDA AND DISMANTLE NEOLIBERALISM
Valuing the approval of the Labor and Social Security reforms – even though the latter continues to be blocked –, the deputy believes that “with greater representation of the Historic Pact in the Chamber and the Senate we will be able to carry out the Health, Political, Labor 2.0 and Educational reforms, and restore the rights taken away by neoliberalism”.
Ana Erazo points out as key points “the recovery of essential rights such as the payment of overtime on Sundays, previously paid like any other day, we were also able to reduce the working day from 48 to 42 hours and make the night shift pay start at 7 pm and no longer at 9 pm”.
On the pension issue, he noted, “we are moving forward so that private funds no longer manage the resources of the elderly, as they were using the money to speculate outside the country”.
Among the five pending reforms, explained Ana Erazo, “we fight for greater equity around political parties, which are very permeated by corruption, electoral embarrassment, and vote buying. In addition to better organization, we need to ensure that there is more space for women’s participation, so that we have equal rights.”
Due to the current mess, he warned, “we need a reform in the Judiciary, not only because of the existing prison system, but because the Prosecutor’s Office often ends up representing the parties and politicians’ decisions more than legality itself”.
Another banner of the Historic Pact is “an educational reform to address prevailing social injustices, because, historically, there are more resources for war and internal conflict than for free, quality public education for all”.
HEALTH SECTOR NEEDS TO BE TAKEN AWAY FROM NEGOTIATORS
The deputy demanded attention to the reforms of the Electoral and Health Code, as Health Promoting Entities (EPS) have become companies, private entities that hire and do their business so that they themselves are the ones who unduly control resources. In this strange way, he warned, “without the State directly managing the resources for the good of the citizen, the individual ends up being the last to have access to the right”. “They commodified health, handed it over to the private sector, which then did not provide the medicines and performed surgeries just to charge the State. As we observed last year, according to the Comptroller’s Office, these EPS stole, through corruption, 32 billion Colombian pesos, around one billion dollars”, he recalled.
ABELARD STOLE PATRIAL SYMBOLS AND COPIES TRUMP’S
Due to the scenario presented, the moment is to compete for every vote, he exclaimed, as Abelardo’s political marketing managed to sell his candidate in the first round “as a person with all the Colombian idiosyncrasy, passing for religious, when we know that he is an atheist, that he loves animals, when he mistreats them, who respects nature, when he is averse to it”. “We already know what to expect from a person who steals national symbols, like the flag, and copies those of other candidates like Trump and Milei around a lion or a tiger.”
“Now we have to reflect so that Trump, who congratulated his little tiger, does not emerge victorious. We need a lot of pedagogy to talk to people and take people to the polls, combating abstention [de 43% no primeiro turno, pois aqui o voto não é obrigatório]. To do this, it is necessary to explain what is behind the ultra-right candidate who, due to his American nationality, will obviously accept the determinations of his government. So, the entire ultra-right model is copied”, he denounced.
“We made a lot of mistakes in the first round. We didn’t have the capacity to mobilize all the people who know that Petro is a good president, especially because our government reached the most vulnerable areas, rural areas, with agrarian reform. We reached spaces where a government had never been”, he reported.
“For the second round, we are motivating more people who benefited, in which the State arrived after many years with hospitals, with attention, so that they vote. On our part, it is up to us to help and motivate this electorate so that they travel and go out to vote. Among the mistakes we made there is triumphalism”, he reflected.
Another mistake, he added, “was to focus the accusation on Paloma Valencia (closer to former president Álvaro Uribe) and reveal everything he was and represented, leaving Abelardo secondary. Now we are focused on exposing who he is, his lies, who surrounds him, where the currency that finances him comes from, and what would happen if he won.”
“RECOMPOSITION FOR A SECOND PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT”
This week, the parliamentarian demonstrated, “let us restore the situation and hope that the people can become aware and mobilize to guarantee a second progressive government. This is what we are seeing in the final stretch, especially from the youth, who are calling on others to vote.”
“Before we didn’t move, now we are mobilizing. Because we know that we are living well, that we have better conditions to travel, to go for a walk, go to the shopping center, buy clothes, the economy is improving. But in any case it is a challenge and we need social and community movements, the unions, who all join the campaign. This second government will be one of challenge and responsibility for development, for the country”, he indicated.
According to Ana Erazo, against the progress and development proposed by Cepeda and Still Quilcué, “those who want to take our oil, lay hands on our biodiversity, and return to war come”.
“Fortunately, today it is the people who say what must be done and who do not want to lose their rights. Today it is the people who are in charge, who decide. It is the Colombians who are taking to the streets, doing what they have to do to elect the Historic Pact”, he concluded.
*ComunicaSul, direct from Cali/Colombia
Source: vermelho.org.br
