Protests in Colombia Against President de la Espriella's Austerity Policies

On October 14, a coalition of opposition parties, labor unions, Indigenous groups and social movements in Colombia organized protests against a series of economic and security policies under right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella. Thousands marched in major cities, including the capital Bogota, kicking off a nationwide campaign launched by former leftist President Gustavo Petro.

According to observers, under Petro, Colombia expanded access to public higher education, raised the minimum wage and improved labor protections. Opposition groups say many of those reforms are now under threat as the de la Espriella administration pursues cuts to government programs.

Colombia's Congress faces a Tuesday deadline to pass the fiscal 2027 budget. As part of the new administration's austerity measures, allies of de la Espriella are pushing a proposal to cut public spending. De la Espriella has also pledged to steer Colombia away from his predecessor's leftist tilt, toward free-market policies aligned with those of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Ahead of the protests, the government issued new regulations for the police force, granting law enforcement additional powers to act more swiftly against protesters who damage public property or block access to essential services. In a social media statement about the decree, de la Espriella said: "The right to protest is respected, but there is no right to vandalize, attack security forces, assault others or sow chaos." He added that "violence, vandalism and blockades trample the rights of millions of citizens and will not be tolerated."

Indigenous communities and political groups in rural Colombia sometimes block roads during protests, at times for weeks. However, critics point out that this week's demonstrations were largely peaceful. Many chanted "It will fall," referring to the perceived failure of the de la Espriella administration.

De la Espriella, a former defense lawyer and millionaire businessman, is a newcomer to politics who ran for president this year as a far-right candidate. He won a closely contested runoff in June after campaigning on a hardline platform on crime, immigration and the economy, including proposals to deport millions of immigrants from Colombia and shrink the government. He also pledged to reverse the reforms of Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, and took office in August.

Petro, a former leftist fighter turned politician, joined the protest on Wednesday. He is ineligible to run again in this year's presidential race because Colombian law currently limits presidents to a single term. On social media, he wrote that the demonstrations were a wake-up call "two months after an authoritarian and imposed government began."

Protesters also voiced concern about cuts to labor protections and health care under the new administration. "I feel like we have nothing guaranteed and the little we have achieved... is about to be lost," teacher Ester Guerra, 32, told AFP in Bogota.

Some protesters also objected to the new government's tilt toward Israel. Many carried Palestinian flags in a show of solidarity. The same day, the de la Espriella government inaugurated Colombia's embassy in Jerusalem, a controversial move as both Israel and Palestine claim parts of the city. Petro was a strong supporter of Palestine and severed relations with Israel over the war in Gaza; de la Espriella has restored the ties cut since taking office.

This led protesters like Jimena Rodriguez, a 20-year-old student, to view it as an effort to ignore allegations of Israeli abuses against Palestinians. Some noted that de la Espriella's moves toward Israel mirror the approach of Trump, who moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem during his first term in 2018. Rodriguez said: "President de la Espriella just wants to hand the country over to the United States, to Israel. I feel a dark period is coming."