In what was meant to be a show of force in support of President Gustavo Petro’s embattled reform agenda, Colombia’s latest nationwide strike fell strikingly flat this week, exposing the President’s waning political capital and deepening public dissatisfaction with his leadership.
For weeks, Petro’s government, alongside the country’s most powerful trade unions, called for mass mobilizations to coincide with the launch of a proposed popular consultation—an initiative designed to breathe life into his controversial health, labor, and pension reforms. But on Wednesday, May 28, Bogotá’s Plaza de Bolívar stood mostly empty. The highly symbolic square, once packed during Petro’s 2021 campaign rallies and early days in office, saw only a smattering of loyalists. By Thursday, what little momentum the protests had completely fizzled.
Instead of a mass uprising in support of the President, what unfolded in the capital was a descent into chaos. Roughly 200 masked protestors – some associated with the so-called “primera línea” – vandalized multiple TransMilenio stations, blocked bus lanes, and disrupted major intersections during rush hour. The result: delayed ambulances, stranded commuters, and a city held hostage by a minority of violent agitators. Bogotá’s riot police were forced to intervene as infrastructure damage mounted.
On social media, Bogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán denounced the events, publicly accusing Fabio Arias, president of the National Workers’ Union (CUT), of having authorized the blockades in an apparent effort to disrupt the capital’s daily life. “It is unacceptable that a few choose to affect millions of citizens, even putting their lives at risk,” Galán said. He pledged to file criminal charges against Arias based on his statements.
The most damning moment came when protestors physically prevented an ambulance from reaching a hospital. “In Bogotá, we respect the right to peaceful protest, but violating fundamental rights, such as access to healthcare, is unacceptable,” Galán declared. Yet rather than condemn the violence or appeal for order, President Petro came to the defense of Arias and appeared to justify the blockades.
In a heated exchange, Petro accused Galán of “criminalizing protest” and invoked the legacy of Nuevo Liberalismo, the centrist political party founded by Galán’s father, Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento, who was assassinated by the Medellín Cartel during his presidential campaign in 1989. Galán did not hold back in his response.
“Welcome to the debate, Mr. President,” Galán wrote on X. “Let’s have it transparently and with complete information. Tell me – do you agree that 200 or 300 people, often hooded, can coordinate to block the transportation system for hours, affecting over 2 million people trying to work, study, or attend medical appointments? Protest is protected in Bogotá, but it is not unlimited. Protest cannot be violent or disproportionate. That is the core of the debate.”
The episode marks a turning point in the public perception of Petro’s presidency. Once hailed as a master of social protest, the President appears to have lost touch with the very movement that brought him to power. Colombians are increasingly weary of political antics that disrupt daily life while offering little in the way of tangible progress. Petro’s grand plans for a popular consultation – a sort of unofficial referendum meant to pressure Congress – now appear dead on arrival.
“The images circulating on social media of ordinary Colombians spontaneously confronting Petro’s masked first-line protestors as they blocked avenues and TransMilenio stations in Bogotá – and others jeering them in cities across the country, shouting ‘let us work,’ ‘go away,’ ‘no more Petro’—will be remembered,” wrote political commentator Mauricio Vargas in El Tiempo. “And let’s not forget the empty Plaza de Bolívar, both on Wednesday and Thursday, despite the President’s call for a rally in defense of his failed popular consultation. These are the symbols of the week when Petro, for years the undisputed master of social mobilization, lost the street.”
This loss is not merely symbolic – it’s politically devastating. Petro’s agenda is faltering in Congress, where even left-leaning allies are reluctant to tie themselves to proposals that lack both legislative clarity and public backing. His confrontational rhetoric, once a source of energy among grassroots supporters, now appears tone-deaf and divisive.
The President’s insistence on framing all opposition as fascism or elite conspiracy has grown stale, especially as his government struggles to deliver basic services or quell rising insecurity. As Petro increasingly isolates himself behind a social media façade, the public seems to be moving on, more concerned with everyday realities, from rising food prices and access to healthcare, than ideological crusades.
As the week ends with a failed strike and public backlash to lawlessness disguised as protest, the message resonating from cities across the country is clear: Colombians are no longer marching with Petro, but gearing up for the start of the 2026 general election season to vote in “change” – once again – but change that looks to bury the country’s first – and last – leftist experiment.
