COLOMBIA’S right mobilised on the streets on Sunday, with tens of thousands marching against socialist President Gustavo Petro’s proposed constitutional reforms.

Mr Petro has seen landmark reforms to pensions, workplace rights and healthcare blocked in Congress, where his coalition lacks a Senate majority, and has suggested reforming the constitution since “the institutions we have today in Colombia are not capable of living up to the social reforms that the people decreed through their vote” for his government.

Healthcare has become the biggest battleground this month. On April 3 the Senate rejected plans to extend public control over funding and widen healthcare access through establishing rural clinics.

Mr Petro then ordered the public takeover of the country’s two biggest health insurers by decree, sparking doctors’ protests.

Like many elected left leaders in Latin America, Mr Petro has faced institutional resistance from vested interests.

Army officers have called on radio for a “Peruvian solution” to his reforming government, referring to the constitutional coup against and arrest of Peru’s elected leader Pedro Castillo in 2022.