A new decision by a high court irritates the government of President Gustavo Petro. The Council of State, the highest court of administrative litigation, suspended Decree 415 of 2026, which orders the transfer of 25 trillion pesos (US$6.9 billion) from the Pension Fund Administrators (AFP) to Colpensiones, and thus the Colombian pension system faces a new stage of legal uncertainty.
The Council of State focused its attention on Chapter 5 of the recently issued regulation, which orders private funds to immediately transfer to Colpensiones the savings of thousands of citizens who, although they have already changed regime, have not yet met the requirements of age and weeks to access a pension.
The decision of the high court gives fuel to President Petro, so that he enriches his statements according to which the high courts do not let him govern or carry out the reforms he seeks to implement. Surely, it will also increase the call to his supporters to take to the streets this May 1, Labor Day, an invitation to which he has accustomed them since the beginning of his government.
President Petro reacts by calling for marches
As soon as the decision of the Council of State became known, President Petro wrote on his account on the social network X that the high court “is vetoing the transfer requested by worker savers. It allows bankers to steal the savings of workers,” for which he called on the workers of Colombia this May 1 “to the general mobilization, to defend the right to a pension and to fight for lower interest rates.”
In any case, the decision of the Council of State actually confirms that Decree 415 of 2026, which has just been affected, may indeed be against what had been established by Law 2381 of 2024, that is, the pension reform of President Petro himself, with the article that allowed, in an exceptional manner, that some people changed from private funds to the public regime.
For the magistrates of the Council of State, Law 2381 of 2024 “made clear that the saved money should remain in private funds [AFP] until the person met the requirements to retire and consolidated their right to a pension,” they explained and warned that, “despite this, Decree 415 of 2026 ordered that pension fund administrators transfer those resources immediately.”
A citizen had challenged the government decree
The decision of the Council of State occurs in response to a nullity lawsuit against the administrative act of the Petro government filed by citizen Jesus Hernando Baena Alvarez, for whom the decree is a “leap into the void” normatively. He argues that, according to current laws, the money must remain under the management of the AFP until the affiliate consolidates their right to a pension, and not be captured in advance by the state.
In addition, a technical document from the Colombian Association of Pension and Severance Fund Administrators (Asofondos) that was presented as support in a lawsuit over the decree warns about the effects that the transfer of pension resources would have, especially in instruments such as TES, both in the short and medium term.
The ruling of the Council of State concluded that the decree issued by the government of Petro modified a rule defined in the pension reform that was also processed by the Executive; the finding made evident that this administrative act changed the moment when the transfer of the money should be made. Likewise, it reminded President Petro that “he can regulate the laws to make them applicable, but not change their content nor replace decisions that correspond to Congress.”