President Petro will install the Congress that will accompany him in the last year of his administration.

The Colombian Congress begins its new ordinary session this Sunday, the last with President Gustavo Petro , with whom it clashed in the previous legislature over the content of the government's labor and pension reforms.

Petro will leave office on August 7, 2026, and although Congress will be reinstated next year , his successor for the 2026-2030 term will already be elected by then. See more: Miguel Uribe Case: Who is the sixth person allegedly linked to the attack who turned himself in?

Therefore, during the session that begins tomorrow, Colombian Independence Day, the Petro administration will seek to once again push forward reforms to health care , justice, and a new tax system.

" On July 20, I will present to the nation the great achievements of our health reforms , which (...) have saved the lives of thousands of Colombian girls and boys ," the president said of the administrative changes his government has implemented in the sector.

The president must install Congress after returning from an official visit to Haiti. After doing so, he will travel to Santiago, Chile, to participate in the summit for the defense of democracy on Monday , convened by his Chilean counterpart, Gabriel Boric, and also attended by the presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi; and the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez.

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In this new legislative session, controversy is expected over the justice reform bill, spearheaded by the new minister of that portfolio, former Attorney General Eduardo Montenegre, who will file this initiative tomorrow. Montenegre has described it as "a third way" between the agreements with the paramilitaries and the FARC guerrillas and has already garnered criticism from the opposition and legal experts.

The source of the dispute is that the bill includes benefits for criminal gang leaders who submit to justice, which could eventually include the Clan del Golfo , Colombia's main criminal group, and even the transnational criminal gang Tren de Aragua, according to critics of the initiative.

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" This project is a third way between the experiences of the Justice and Peace Law (for the demobilization of paramilitaries) and the Special Justice resulting from the Havana agreements (with the FARC) ," said Montealegre.

The minister asserts that the law the government will propose " is a mix of retributive justice and restorative justice ."

" Colombia must be assured that we are not building a fence of impunity here; there will always be a minimum prison sentence ," the head of the Justice Department emphasized.

However, this project has received criticism from those who consider it the concretization of an agreement that Juan Fernando Petro, the president's brother, allegedly negotiated during the last presidential campaign with criminals imprisoned in Bogotá's La Picota prison. This agreement consisted of handing over money and goods in exchange for not being extradited to the U.S. and being given political treatment as part of the government's "total peace."

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" The new project of agreements with drug trafficking, disguised as total peace, the last chapter of the implementation of the Pact of La Picota, strengthens the Narcocracy to which Gustavo Petro has been committed since the presidential campaign ," wrote the former conservative Colombian president Andrés Pastrana on his X account.

Third tax reform

The other important reform the government will process during the legislative period is tax reform, with the goal of raising an additional 19.6 trillion pesos (approximately $4.87 billion), according to Finance Minister Germán Ávila. This proposal, the third of the current government, will include " modifying the VAT structure to reduce tax expenditures "; as well as additional modifications to the carbon tax; VAT on gambling, digital platforms, and churches; and measures aimed at taxing various forms of pollution, such as pesticides, noise, and vaping, among others. See more: Health system faces financial crisis and urgently needs actions to stabilize: Acemi

The opening of the new parliamentary session will also serve as a test of strength between the governing party, the Historic Pact , and its allies, and the opposition to see who will win the presidencies of the House of Representatives and the Senate, important positions because they control the legislative agenda.

EFE