“The strike will continue”, the president of the CUT calls for mobilizations for May 26 and 28

The National Strike Committee is preparing for new mobilizations for next week. Today, in the morning, the head of the CUT, before entering the discussion table with the national government, headed by the peace commissioner, Miguel Ceballos, said in an interview with RCN Radio that ” the strike will continue “., After announcing that on May 26 and 28, Colombians are again called to a day of peaceful marches in the country.

“Next week, from today, the strike will continue and we will hold big demonstrations on May 26 and 28, while the first month of the mobilizations in Colombia will be over,” he assured Francisco Maltes station.

Although it is in the process of reconciliation with the national government, the Committee stresses that an agreement was not possible since the public forces continue to carry out attacks against the demonstrators, as happened on Wednesday evening in various towns. . Moreover, in the last hours, during this meeting with the government, as the station reports, no progress has been made, with the committee indicating that it did not respond to the 19 points it made known. at the start of meetings. .

More, The Committee announced that it did not agree that Vice-President Marta Lucía Ramírez, now in her post as Minister of Foreign Affairs, is going to the United States to meet with the Commission. Inter-American Committee on Human Rights of the IACHR indicate that there are no representatives of the other party for the said meeting, so they proposed that this meeting take place in Colombia, or that someone from the Committee be included in said trip.

The Chancellor will also hold several meetings with members of the US Congress, at a time when several Democratic lawmakers criticized the Colombian police response to the protests and called on Iván Duque’s government for maximum restraint from law enforcement.

For his part, the union leader Diógenes Orjuela, secretary general of the CUT, revealed that they will ask the government to allow the entry of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, so that the organization examines the different situations that have been recorded due to abuse of public force. amid protests across the country.

“We are not going to lift the strike today, but we have met with the government to start a process of negotiating the document. Today, we demand full guarantees for social protest, that the excessive use of force cease and that the streets be demilitarized, ”said the spokesperson for the CUT.

19M marches in Colombia ended in violence

In Bogotá, around 10 p.m., a pitched battle began between the demonstrators who were in front of the Portal de las Américas, which was called by young people as “ Portal Resistencia ”, after it was reported that vandals damaged the infrastructure of the gate, so law enforcement began to clear the area.

Likewise, simultaneously, at the Industrial University of Santander (UIS) in Bucaramanga, more than 2,000 students were arrested at the facilities of the educational center, in which strong clashes began when a group of vandals undertook it against the CAI of San Alonso, near the Megamall shopping center, as reported by Juan Carlos Cárdenas, mayor of the capital Santander. To which law enforcement responded with the same level of violence using tear gas and water tanks, attacking all protesters and there is even a video where a tank passes on a bicycle.

Similarly, in Medellín, clashes between security forces and apparently a group of hooded men near the University of Antioquia left 35 injured. According to Medellín Security Secretary José Gerardo Acevedo, the riots began after people outside the march who were on the front lines attacked an official in the mayor’s office, stole four briefcases from the ministry of Mobility, and will damage 30 fences of the CAI de la Macarena.

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