Gustavo Petro strengthens his commitment to the referendum 2.0 by attacking the senators who voted against it.

Without mentioning his labor reform , which is currently being processed by the Fourth Senate Committee after its resurrection, President Gustavo Petro relaunched his new strategy to promote the Popular Consultation 2.0.

From Barranquilla, Atlántico, before a packed crowd, the head of state inaugurated the town hall meetings with which the government seeks to mobilize its base to support the referendum. The referendum was reintroduced by the Executive Branch this Monday, six days after the Senate rejected the first version of the mechanism, which focused exclusively on labor issues and which now, in its relaunch, also includes questions related to health care reform.

The president's speech focused on attacks on the congressmen who sank the referendum , with Efraín Cepeda , the president of the Senate, being the most questioned by the president.

But with a list in hand, he also mentioned the senators from the Atlantic who had spoken out against the mechanism. "They voted against their own electorate," the president asserted to his supporters.

In addition to Cepeda, he mentioned Antonio Luis Zabaraín (Radical Change), Carlos Mario Farelo (Radical Change), Mauricio Gómez Amín (Liberal Party), Carlos Meisel (Democratic Center), and Honorio Enríquez (Democratic Center). He also mentioned Betsy Pérez, a House representative for Radical Change.

President Petro also accused these congressmen of buying votes and even receiving money from drug trafficking for their campaigns. He also asked his followers not to vote for them in the next legislative elections, in March 2026. He also attacked the Char House.

"These gentlemen believe they can become executioners and scuttle the referendum. They are sure that when the elections come, they will withdraw their cash and there will be a herd behind them. I say enough," stated President Gustavo Petro, who also mentioned again that the Senate cheated when the referendum was denied. However, there is no legal basis for these claims, and the vote is legitimate.

In the president's speech, broadcast during the presidential address, he discussed the referendum. He insisted that if the Senate rejects it again, he will continue to present this option: "If another is needed, another; and if another is needed, another."

He also warned that, if this is the case, there will be an indefinite national strike.

"You decide the moments, the days, and the timing. If it's time to go on strike, the president won't touch the people, but will stand by them. If they're going to oust me for that, a revolution will break out," he stated.

However, there are serious legal doubts about the legality of the new referendum presented this Monday by the ministers of the Interior, Labor, and Health, as it is based on the same text that was already defeated. Experts also point out that it should have been signed by President Gustavo Petro, not the presidential delegate, given that the president was traveling when the formal request was submitted to the Senate of the Republic.

The Senate is now expected to meet again in the next 30 days to vote on the referendum, although legal action could be taken to prevent its passage.

Also during this same period, the labor reform process will continue in the Senate's Seventh Committee. Public hearings are already underway, and a report for the third debate is expected this week.

But President Petro seems to be backing away from that initiative, since he didn't even mention it in his speech, and this Monday, via X, he accused Angélica Lozano, president of that legislative cell, of having handed it over to the extreme right.

"Angélica has already expressed what she wants: she handed over one of the most advanced labor reforms in recent decades to the right, even the extreme right. And we already know what this right, along with the money launderers and smugglers who take over unions, wants," the president stated.