On May 1st - Labor Day - Colombian President Gustavo Petro marched through Medellín calling for a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution and force through reforms blocked by Congress. The timing was calculated, the implications explosive, and the specter of Venezuela impossible to ignore.
Petro announced plans to convene a National Constituent Assembly, mobilizing union supporters and asking citizens to donate to signature-collection campaigns. According to El Tiempo, the president "robusteció a los sindicatos que respaldan la campaña" - strengthened the unions backing the campaign - through collective reparation measures.
The constituent assembly would have the power to override Colombia's existing democratic institutions, rewrite fundamental law, and potentially extend Petro's time in office or eliminate term limits. It's the same mechanism Hugo Chávez used in Venezuela in 1999 to consolidate power - a historical parallel that terrifies Colombian moderates.
Three presidential candidates - De la Espriella, Valencia, and Fajardo - immediately condemned the proposal. El Espectador reported that candidates "se oponen a propuesta de asamblea constituyente" relaunched from Medellín.
The May 1st timing is significant. Labor Day mobilizations across Latin America have historically been the launching pad for left-wing political movements - from Lula's Workers' Party in Brazil to Evo Morales' indigenous movement in Bolivia. Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, is using the same playbook.
But Colombia is not Venezuela - yet. The country has stronger democratic institutions, a more robust opposition, and a middle class that remembers what happened across the border. Venezuela's constituent assembly in 2017 effectively ended competitive democracy, giving Nicolás Maduro a rubber-stamp legislature and crushing opposition power.
Petro's government has faced congressional resistance to his economic reforms, healthcare overhaul, and land redistribution plans. Rather than negotiate or compromise, he's now threatening to circumvent Congress entirely through constitutional rewrite.
Controversy erupted over Petro using government channels to fundraise for the signature campaign - a potential violation of the separation between presidential authority and political campaigning. The Interior Minister requested lists of absent congresspeople to evaluate potential loss of investiture, a tactic critics say is designed to intimidate opposition legislators.
The question now: will Colombia defend its democratic institutions, or follow the path of Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Ecuador - where constituent assemblies became tools for dismantling checks and balances?
Nuestra América has seen this story before. The ending is never good.
