🗞️ The government’s proposal for the reform referendum has been rejected by the Senate this week, defeated by 49 votes to 47.
The proposal included twelve questions for labour reform, which would be expedited into law – if approved by the Senate and then by the public in a referendum, which had been planned for later this year.
President Gustavo Petro claimed the Senate vote was a fraud and called for protest, even suggesting a general strike: Senate President Efraín Cepeda had allegedly opened the vote but closed it only minutes later, when he knew that the ‘No’ vote had the majority.
Petro has now asked the Senate to repeat the vote on the referendum, also saying he will resubmit the referendum questions, along with a new question regarding the price of medication. Petro has also called for popular councils in municipalities, though these would function with political rather than legal effect.
Just before the vote on the referendum, the government labour reform bill itself (rejected in March) was revived in the Senate, creating another opportunity for implementation to some of the measures proposed for the referendum.
The bill has already been passed by the lower legislative house, the House of Representatives, and must now pass through the Senate before the 20th of June.
The resurrection of the labour reform bill has, however, been seen by some as a move by the political right to undermine the referendum just before it was to be voted on, strategically undermining the purpose of a referendum in favour of the bill - with the intention of seeking to sink the bill again in the Senate.
🗞️ Ángela María Buitrago has resigned from the Ministry of Justice due to alleged attempts to interfere with the ministry, particularly from Benedetti, seeking the appointment or removal of people from posts under her control, including prisons and drugs control.
Buitrago told journalist Daniel Coronell that she had been pressured to approve a drug export which did not comply with the legal requirements, and had been pressured to stop the extradition of Gabriel Yepes Mejía alias "HH", commander of the Comuneros del Sur guerrilla group.
Benedetti announced via X, formerly Twitter, that he will be suing Buitrago for defamation, and suggested (also via Tweet) that she had not resigned as she claimed, but had in fact been removed from her post.
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