Thousands of people returned to the streets of Colombia this Wednesday to protest against the government of President Iván Duque, on the eighth day of demonstrations that leave 24 dead and hundreds injured.
“It hurts the negligence of a government that is deaf, that prefers to send public forces, instead of helping (the people), they prefer to help the banks, the big companies,” the student Hector was outraged in statements to the AFP agency Cuinemi, 19, in Bogotá.
Under the scrutiny of the international community, which denounced excesses of the public force, students, unions, indigenous people and other sectors returned to the streets of the main cities with festive and mostly peaceful marches.
After a week of mobilizations, the government yielded to dialogue and he agreed to meet with the dissatisfied sectors “next week”, according to the presidential advisor, Miguel Ceballos.
Thousands of protesters protected with masks arrived in the afternoon at the central Plaza de Bolívar, in Bogotá, next to the presidential headquarters. A group tried to enter Congress but was dissolved by the police.
A crowd demonstrated again this Wednesday in Bogotá against inequality and police repression. Photo: REUTERS
What began as a peaceful demonstration on April 28 in rejection of an already withdrawn tax reform turned into one of the largest protests against the Conservative government since it came to power in 2018.
The protesters claim, among other things, better conditions in health and education, security in the regions and cessation of police abuse against demonstrations.
“The police are attacking us (…), we are not vandals,” says Natalia (36), without giving her last name, who protested with a group dressed in mourning.
Dead and missing
The mobilizations have been mostly peaceful, but in some cities they became violent. According to official figures, as of Tuesday, there are at least 24 dead (23 protesters and a policeman), 18 of them from gunshot wounds, 800 injured and 89 missing.
Several non-governmental organizations denounce that the police fired on protesters and that the fatalities exceeded 30 people.
An ambulance takes an injured person during the protests this Wednesday in the center of Bogotá, Colombia. Photo: EFE
The authorities also register nine police officers wounded by gunshots.
Thousands of indigenous people joined the protests in Cali (southwest) waving their batons and shouting “resistance.”
Musicians and artists accompanied the massive march in Medellín (northwest) that ended in a sit-in.
International attention
The pressure in the streets does not yield, in the face of the vigilance of the international community that denounced attacks by police against civilians.
The UN, the European Union, the United States, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch they called for calm and demanded guarantees from the government.
Graffiti against the president of Colombia, Iván Duque, on a street in Bogotá. Photo: EFE
According to Reporters Without Borders, there were also 76 attacks against journalists, ten of them injured by the security forces.
Violence and blockades
Bogotá experienced a tense night on Tuesday. Some thirty citizens and 16 police officers were injured after clashes with soldiers that left 25 police posts affected, according to the local mayor’s office.
Violence also broke out in Cali on Monday, leaving five dead and thirty injured.
The police detain a protester this Wednesday in Bogotá. Photo: AP
According to the prosecution, behind the excesses are some FARC dissidents who departed from the peace agreement signed in 2016, and the THE N, the last recognized guerrilla in Colombia, as well as drug trafficking gangs.
“We have seen events where policemen have been shot with a firearm,” that is not a protest, an attitude of that nature is criminal, “Duque said in statements to Blu Radio, at the same time as supported the public force.
To the mobilizations and riots are added road blocks. Some cities like Cali register fuel shortages and fear grows of the arrival of trucks with medical supplies in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
The so-called Unemployment Committee, which brings together dissatisfied sectors, said it was open to direct negotiation with the president.
Several NGOs denounce police abuses in Colombia. / AFP
Military deployment
The Defense Ministry deployed 47,500 soldiers throughout the territory during the demonstrations. In Cali alone there are 700 soldiers, 500 men from the anti-riot force (Esmad), 1,800 policemen and two additional helicopters. Soldiers have also patrolled the capital since the weekend.
With the declining popularity (33%), the president has faced massive protests since 2019, besieged by the discontent now fueled by the pandemic.
Colombia also lives the worst onslaught of armed groups since the signing of the historic peace pact, with numerous massacres, selective assassinations and displacements.
Although the president withdrew the tax reform initiative and the finance minister resigned, the malaise seems to be settling in one of the most unequal countries on the continent, with unemployment of 16.8% and poverty that reaches 42.5% of the population. population.
“Hunger is also a pandemic, injustice too,” concludes Fabián Quiroga, a 22-year-old sociology student, during the protest in Bogotá.
By Lina Vanegas, AFP
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source https://pledgetimes.com/crisis-in-colombia-after-a-week-of-protests-pressure-grows-on-ivan-duque/
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