Gustavo Petro criticizes the media again and links "censorship" to the "disappearance of Colombians."

President Gustavo Petro launched harsh attacks against Colombian journalism again from his X account early Monday morning. According to his tweet, his May 1st speech was censored by the country's main television channels.

It is worth noting that the messages from this intervention were widely disseminated by Colombia's main media outlets.

"They don't want the president to be heard before his people. They want to disappear, like they disappeared 60,000 Colombians, the president of Colombia," Petro wrote on his social media account, accompanied by a link to the full broadcast of his speech from Plaza de Bolívar on May 1.

The Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC) initially denied the President's request to issue an institutional space promoting both the referendum and the Labor Day marches, arguing that the request did not meet the requirements established by current regulations.

This speech by the Colombian president was censored by the Colombian oligarchy and its institutions; they use television to subjugate the people. They don't want the president to be heard before his people. They want to disappear, like they disappeared 60,000 Colombians… https://t.co/eVXtBrdUyd

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) May 5, 2025

The head of state's message directly targeted private media outlets as supposedly responsible for preventing the widespread dissemination of his speech.

President Gustavo Petro's speech on May 1, 2025 , was not broadcast on national television.

The president linked to the full video of the speech on YouTube, where he addressed thousands of citizens gathered in downtown Bogotá last Wednesday. In that speech, Petro formally presented his proposal for a referendum on labor issues, after his labor reform was defeated in Congress.

During International Labor Day, the president led a massive mobilization and delivered a speech announcing the filing of an initiative to allow Colombians to vote on their proposed labor reform.

"If the Senate doesn't approve the referendum, the people will rise up and overturn them," he warned in his speech, accompanied by the sword of Bolívar, a symbol he once again used as a message of support for his political ideology.

The proposed referendum includes questions on reduced working hours , employment contract stability, increased Sunday and holiday surcharges, and other labor-related issues. The bill was officially submitted to the Senate on May 1.

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