Outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro used his final Independence Day address on Monday to call for a "general and indefinite strike" should his successor move to repeal his administration's landmark labor and land reforms, sharpening tensions ahead of a presidential transition set for August 7.

Speaking at a public rally in southern Bogotá on July 20 — Colombia's Independence Day — Petro urged unions, peasant groups, Indigenous organisations and grassroots movements to mobilize "by the millions" in peaceful but forceful opposition to any rollback of the reforms passed during his four-year term. "If they are going to tear down the job stability and working conditions won under this government, there will be a general and indefinite strike in Colombia," he said. He added that any reversal of land-access policies would trigger a "national agrarian strike." The labor reform, approved in June last year, increased overtime pay and made it harder for companies to hire workers on short-term contracts; Colombia's minimum wage was also nearly doubled under Petro to around $550 a month.

President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella — a conservative criminal defense lawyer and leader of the right-wing Defensores de la Patria movement, who holds dual U.S.-Colombian citizenship — won the June 21 runoff with 49.66% of the vote against 48.70% for Petro ally Iván Cepeda, a margin of roughly 250,000 ballots. The National Electoral Council certified the result on June 24, and Cepeda subsequently acknowledged the defeat, announcing he would take a congressional seat under the opposition statute. De la Espriella has pledged to review several of Petro's key reforms on the grounds that they harm job creation and economic competitiveness, though he has stopped short of calling for immediate repeal. He has also promised to cut government spending by up to 40%, cancel ongoing peace negotiations with armed rebel groups, and adopt a tough-on-crime approach modelled partly on El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison system.

Petro, however, has refused to recognise his successor's election, alleging — without providing substantiated evidence — that vote tallies were manipulated with the help of software supplied by Israel, and that U.S. President Donald Trump's endorsement of de la Espriella constituted foreign interference warranting annulment of the result. Electoral authorities have rejected these claims. Political analyst Sergio Guzmán noted that Petro's goal now is to demonstrate he remains influential and that his administration's priorities will endure as a political movement — a role he signalled he intends to pursue as president of his Historical Pact party once he hands over power.

The transition carries significant stakes for Colombia, South America's fourth-largest economy and a country still navigating fragile peace processes with armed groups active in rural areas. De la Espriella himself faces immediate security concerns: he stated Monday that rebel factions including FARC holdout groups and the National Liberation Army are allegedly offering up to one million dollars for his assassination. With the incoming president lacking a congressional majority, analysts say he will need to seek compromises to advance his agenda — meaning the scope of any reform reversals, and the scale of the street mobilisation Petro is calling for, remains to be seen.