Let’s prepare for the mobilization for our rights and for a true social revolution

On June 21, we will go to the polls. Workers, young people, and the poor face the dilemma of choosing between Abelardo De La Espriella’s antisocial and authoritarian platform and continuing with the limited reforms proposed by Iván Cepeda and Aída Quilqué.

Other countries have faced this same dilemma: in Argentina with Milei, in Bolivia with Paz, and in Brazil with Bolsonaro. In the face of a brutal economic, political, and military offensive by imperialism and the most reactionary ideological sectors worldwide, progressivism appears to be the only way out. That is not true. Bolivia is the best example of how mobilization of workers and peasants themselves—through their independent and democratic organization—can set out to overthrow a neoliberal government and build and implement a radical and revolutionary program of social transformation that eradicates not only the effects but also the structural causes of economic inequality, oppression, and social violence.

Take to the streets to fight, protest at the polls!

Abelardo De La Espriella’s victory in the first round has sparked two distinct reactions: on the one hand, sectors of the youth—especially university students—have taken to the streets to express their rejection of the “cat-killer.” At the same time, they are promoting all kinds of initiatives to counter, on the very terrain of information and social media, Abelardo’s campaign of media manipulation—funded by political bosses and big business and backed by the government of the genocidal Donald Trump.

But, on the other hand, the leadership of the Historic Pact and the campaign of Iván Cepeda and Aída Quilcué have decided to seek support from the misnamed political “center.” Thus, they have brought the usual political opportunists into the “Alliance for Life”; which embraces the corrupt leaders who have plundered the public budget under Gustavo Petro’s own administration, negotiating with people such as Armando Benedeti and his henchmen. That is the paradox: the youth are fighting, while the leadership is negotiating. By following this path, the Historic Pact is setting itself up for another electoral defeat.

Faced with this situation, the only way forward is to fight back: to make every effort to overcome this timid and bureaucratic leadership by strengthening the call to defeat the far right at the polls, while at the same time preparing to mobilize to defend our rights against an authoritarian government like the one being touted by De La Espriella, Trump, and their allies, and to put forward a truly revolutionary program demanding that a potential Cepeda-Quilcué government break all its agreements with the bourgeoisie, U.S. and European imperialism, and the Israeli Nazi-Zionist state.

Measures that must be implemented to succeed at the polls

If Iván Cepeda and Aída Quilcué want to broaden their popular electoral support, the path forward is the opposite of the one they have desperately chosen as their strategy for the runoff election. They have begun by suspending the collection of signatures for a Constituent Assembly. Petro was only running that campaign to keep up political pressure on the parliamentary majority held by the right and the center. Despite that, they prefer to give it up in order to strike a deal with the “lukewarm” factions. Fewer reforms, less far-reaching ones, in exchange for a few votes.

A substantial increase in voter turnout can only come from the millions of young people living in precarious conditions and the poorest sectors of urban and rural areas who never go to the polls, or who simply sell their votes. For this population, we must commit to radical measures that can be enacted on the first day of the new administration and enforced through social mobilization:

–Break all agreements with imperialism: no more free trade agreements; close all U.S. military bases on Colombian territory; nationalize all transnational corporations. Break ties with the OECD and Israel. Refuse to pay the foreign debt.

–Full employment: reduction of the workday to six hours, with no reduction in wages, and distribution of that work among the unemployed through stable contracts and social security guarantees. A living wage of $3,000,000.

–Free housing: in all major cities, immediately allocating all buildings currently under construction and launching an immediate program of new projects, complete with the necessary energy, water, and sewer infrastructure. This construction plan would create massive employment opportunities.

–Land for the peasants: Stop buying land from large landowners; immediately expropriate all large estates and farms without compensation, starting with those owned by Paloma Valencia and Álvaro Uribe.

–Free, high-quality education at all levels: (preschool, secondary, college, and graduate school). Develop science and technology to serve social welfare. Expropriate all private educational institutions, starting with those controlled by the Church.

–Quality healthcare for all: nationalization of all private health insurance companies (EPS) and strengthening of the national network of hospital services, with full labor protections for healthcare workers. Nationalization of private clinics and hospitals and of the pharmaceutical industry.

–Democratization of the armed forces and the judicial system: Soldiers and police officers should be able to form unions and directly elect their officers. Social organizations should be able to determine their own means of defense against threats from paramilitaries or criminal gangs. Judges should be elected by popular vote. Furthermore, we must eliminate all privileges enjoyed by members of Congress and high-ranking government officials; this will put an end to corruption and dismantle the authoritarian regime that represses our society.

–Establishment of a drug policy: independent of imperialist dictates that lead to violence and thousands of deaths in the country.

Funding for this emergency social program can begin with the suspension of foreign debt payments, the nationalization of the entire financial and banking sector, and the repatriation of all large fortunes deposited in tax havens to evade taxes.

These measures are indeed revolutionary in nature and pave the way for a true social revolution by laying the groundwork for the planning of social production, the distribution of wealth, and the democratization of political power so that it is in the hands of workers and the poor.

Against the threat of the far right and imperialism: unity among workers, youth, peasants, and the people!

Defeat Abelardo and pave the way for a true social revolution!

Workers’ and Socialist Unity – UNÍOS!
National Leadership

Bogotá, Medellín, June 10, 2026