Colombian President Gustavo Petro's administration expects to win congressional approval of his proposed reforms to fight poverty, exclusion and inequality, but may need to compromise on a controversial health bill and other laws, said Interior Minister Alfonso Prada.
Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, took office just over six months ago. After successfully pushing a tax reform through Congress late last year, more controversial bills slated for this year - including a health reform presented on Monday - have caused tensions among the government's broad coalition and even within Petro's cabinet.
While thousands of Petro's supporters joined marches and rallies on Tuesday across the country to support the health reform, similar numbers turned out for protests opposing them on Wednesday.
Political analysts and opposition politicians have accused the president of calling the marches to try to force Congress and the Constitutional Court into passing his reforms, something the government and Petro denied.
Colombia's government will look to pass its proposed laws with consensus, not by imposing them on lawmakers, Prada told Reuters in an interview late on Wednesday.
"There's no possibility of imposition in a democratic and deliberative regime like Colombia's, which brings all these reforms to Congress," Prada said.
Other controversial reforms will focus on labor and pensions, while the government will also push initiatives to expand university access to young people who cannot pay, and rolling out subsidies to impoverished families and the elderly.
At the same time, the government will need to maintain its majority coalition to push through other proposed reforms which include a law offering incentives for illegal armed groups to submit themselves to justice, and a land reform which looks to boost agricultural production.
Prada played down suggestions of tensions within the government's coalition majority in Congress.
"So far it has been very solid. I don't have a magic wand to see what will happen in two or three months, but as far as I and the government are concerned, we're going to do everything possible to keep this great coalition united," Prada said.
Claims by opposition politicians that Petro might look to stay in power beyond his four-year term are unfounded, Prada said.
"That is totally prohibited by President Petro himself," Prada said. "On August 7, 2026, the fourth year (of the government), we will deliver the presidency to whoever the people have democratically chosen."
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by David Holmes)
