By Luis Jaime Acosta
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s government is willing to accept changes to labor, pension and health reform bills but will try to maintain the spirit of the projects while building agreements where possible, Interior Minister Luis Fernando Velasco said on Monday.
President Gustavo Petro, who will mark his first year in office on Aug. 7, is pushing economic and social reforms to reduce poverty and inequality, alongside his efforts to end Colombia’s six-decade armed conflict, which has killed at least 450,000.
Petro’s proposed health, pension and labor reforms were not approved in two prior sessions of Congress, while the government’s coalition – made of parties from the left, center and right-wing – disintegrated in April.
The health and pension reforms will continue where they left off in the current session of Congress which began July 20, while the labor reform will be presented again, after lawmakers rejected it.
“It’s clear that there is going to be debate and if we attend the debates it is because we are willing to listen, not just to be listened to,” Velasco said in an interview.
Despite the difficulties, the government has managed to pass a tax reform and a law to give land to rural communities, and it ratified the Escazu agreement, which looks to protect the environment and environmentalists, Velasco added.
The government will also look to include business owners and broader society in agreements to pass the reforms, he added.
Another of the government’s aims will be to pass laws guaranteeing free education for poor students in public universities, as well as secure the mechanisms needed to reach peace deals with Colombia’s multiple illegal armed groups, Velasco said.
Leftist guerrillas and criminal gangs pose a risk to Colombia’s remote regions as they look to control territory for running their illicit operations, such as drug trafficking and illegal mining operations, Velasco said.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
