What began on Wednesday, April 28 as a demonstration against President Duque’s tax reform, continued this Saturday as an extension of the national strike. And with violence. Only in the city of Cali, the Francisco Isaías Human Rights Network reported receiving a complaint of 14 people killed by police shots, when the Ministry of Defense only confirmed one death. Other abuses have already been reported by other groups, while 97 have joined to point out to the IACHR possible human rights violations. H H. committed by agents of the State.
A “war treatment against the demonstrations.” This is how the Francisco Isaías Human Rights Network denounces the repression by Colombian forces against citizens, who since Wednesday April 28 have rejected the Government’s tax reform in the streets. that, in just four days, has already caused dozens of injuries and detainees, as well as deaths and disappearances.
Cali, one of the three main cities in the country, is shaken by protests, within the framework of this new day of national strike. But this is also where one of the most worrying situations of public insecurity is taking place, with reports of the murder of several protesters, presumably by police shooting.
At a press conference, the NGO claimed to have received 14 reports of people who have died in the midst of the protests. Seven have already been confirmed by the organizations that make up the DD network. H H.; the remaining half is still a matter of investigation.
For its part, the organization Tremors counted at least 10 deaths as a result of police violence, 68 victims of physical violence, 655 arbitrary arrests, 8 people who received assault on their eyes, and 18 cases of firearms being shot perpetrated by the public force.
Among the victims indicated by the Francisco Isaías Human Rights Network are two minors, who died on April 28 “as a result of the bullets fired by the Police and the public forces.”
Likewise, human rights defenders highlighted that at least three people are missing and that, to the repression with firearms, there are arbitrary detentions and beatings against the detainees. Women and men were beaten at a police station in the city of Cali, where personal items such as mobile phones and briefcases were also stolen from them.
Members of the organization affirmed that during their accompaniments to the citizen marches they have witnessed actions in which alleged members of the security forces drive motorcycles with their license plate numbers covered, to shoot and rob those who demonstrate.
At least 84 people have been taken to police stations or to the Las Américas Coliseum, a place that was set up as a temporary detention center, where the people also claimed to have been subjected to beatings.
While the violence worsens in the mobilizations in this area of the country, the Mayor’s Office and the Governor’s Office are silent, as they reproach from the Network, since they emphasize that the local authorities have ensured that there have been no fatal outcomes.
“They are denying us the possibility of exercising our work. We had reached an alleged agreement with the Mayor’s Office that we were going to be allowed our legitimate work, but that has not happened, we are not given the information about where the people detained by the public force, “explained the conglomerate in defense of citizens, who until this first of May have been without an Ombudsman present.
Only at the end of the day did the Defender Carlos Camargo – who is part of the entity in charge of watching over protests with constitutional and legal functions – appeared rejecting “vandalism.” For his part, Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano reported this Friday at a press conference, in which he argued that the authorities are only aware of one dead protester.
Statements that have fueled public outrage, also highly mobilized in networks. This is where the opposition senator Wilson Arias echoed the complaints from the Human Rights Network, and where several witnesses disseminated videos showing violence by the authorities.
“We hold the minister, the president and the mayor of Santiago de Cali directly responsible for the acts that the public force is committing against the community,” emphasized a spokeswoman for the Francisco Isaías Network.
Why are they protesting in Colombia?
The fed up of Colombian citizens has reached the limit with the third tax reform promoted by President Iván Duque. The project seeks a collection of around 6,302 million dollars to try to fill the holes in the state coffers in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But it drives it from a significant tax increase mainly for the middle and lower class, whose finances are already dying before the increase in unemployment and the closures of businesses caused in turn by the closures to trade and the restrictions of the authorities to deal to stop the spread of the virus.
Among the most controversial points, the Duque Executive proposed that from 2022 those who earn more than the equivalent of $ 660 per month should declare income.
Starting in 2023, it would further expand the range of Colombians who would have to pay that obligation, since the 10% tax would apply to those with an income of around $ 374 per month. This in a country where the minimum wage is $ 248.
He also proposed a 19% increase in the rate of public services, adding a tax on basic products of the family basket. Contrary to activating the generation of employment and economic recovery of citizens, the Duque Administration intends to raise funds with a higher cost of living.
In the midst of strong social discontent, the president on Friday ordered the Ministry of Finance and Congress to make changes to the disputed text. Among them, he assured that there would be no increases in VAT on public goods and services and that the family basket would not be touched.
But the majority of Colombians demand the withdrawal of the bill in its entirety. The ruling party itself, Centro Democrático, advises against approving it not precisely because it disagrees but because it considers it unpopular in the face of the elections of next year 2022.
While the president insists on its approval and citizens cry out in the streets that the project is not endorsed, the Government increases quarantines and closures to shops and continues with a slow vaccination process that can mitigate the health and economic crisis.
With EFE and local media
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source https://pledgetimes.com/colombia-several-ngos-report-at-least-7-deaths-in-cali-and-human-rights-violations-h-h-in-the-protests/
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