Colombia, looking at the pension law from the point of view of love

By Roberto Morejón

For many of Colombia's informal rural workers, the pension reform approved by President Gustavo Petro offers hope for a less precarious retirement.

The new system, which will come into effect in July 2025, is based on four pillars: tributary, semi-tributary, voluntary savings and solidarity, with the aim of expanding coverage.

Emphasizing the strengthening of Colpensiones, the president announced the reform of the pension system, putting an end to a practice of three decades that left out part of the seven million adults of retirement age.

It should be noted that in Colombia more than two million older adults live in conditions of poverty and vulnerability, without a pension, and from 2025 they will receive a so-called basic income from the state.

Placed among the electoral promises, the Head of State prioritized it in the midst of questions from the press and the opposition, when maintaining the lack of financing for such objective.

They reacted sourly to a concept that, while maintaining the retirement age at 57 for women and 62 for men, modifies the distribution of resources by transferring a large part to a public fund and reducing it to those of private origin.

To back this up, the new law requires every worker to make mandatory pension contributions to the state fund.

Although the president and his ministers are satisfied with the step taken, they warned their countrymen to be on the lookout for possible legal challenges. Petro urged the judiciary not to look at it through the eyes of the dollar, but through the eyes of love, a timely call in light of announcements by the pro-Uribe Democratic Center to file a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court.

ECLAC, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, recommends mixed pension systems, as proposed in Colombia, with an increasing role for the state.

While it is true that Petro has achieved one of the greatest triumphs of his government, which began in 2022, his social conquest is far from smooth. Powerful forces in the legislative apparatus, which have played a damaging role against his health reform project, are preparing their batteries.