Protests in Colombia: Duque orders militarization of Cali after another day of violence and overflowing chaos | International

Cali is once again the epicenter of violence on another day of protests in Colombia and, given the public order chaos experienced during the day, President Iván Duque ordered the militarization of the city and of the department of Valle. “The maximum deployment of military assistance to the national police begins in Cali and El Valle,” said the president of the city in southwestern Colombia. “This deployment will be at the head of officers of the highest experience. And this will lead us to triple our capacity throughout the department, ensuring assistance in the hot spots where we have witnessed acts of vandalism, violence and low-intensity urban terrorism, ”added Duque.

In a speech at the end of the day, the president said he would not allow roadblocks that attack citizens. “Unlocking as a principle, as a protective measure for all citizens. There are over 7,000 men deployed for this task. We have always maintained channels for deliberation regarding citizens ‘needs within the framework of the Constitution, but not for negotiating citizens’ rights. There can be no islands of anarchy “, declared the president and assured that the armed forces must act against acts of vandalism” which threaten the peace of the citizens “. Several assassinations and clashes between demonstrators and armed civilians led the president to visit the city and announce the military deployment.

One of the most serious cases occurred on Friday morning in the neighborhood of La Luna, where three people died. The president did not refer to any of these victims in his speech. Videos posted on social media show a prosecutor, armed and dressed in civilian clothes, on the run after shooting at two protesters. In revenge, a group of hooded men track him down and lynch him to death. Attorney General Francisco Barbosa confirmed that he was an official of this entity, but assured that he was not on duty. “Fredy Bermudez was attached to the Technical Investigation Body and, according to information gathered so far, he shot several people causing the death of some civilians,” Barbosa confirmed and lamented the death of the three people. President Iván Duque traveled to the city to attend a security council meeting amid the chaos unleashed during the day.

According to the versions that took place in Cali, Bermúdez was upset by the blockade of the road and used his supply weapon against the demonstrators. The videos show one of the young men killed on the asphalt. “This situation arose between those who blocked a road and those who wanted to pass. The fight resulted in this mad situation of death and pain, ”said the mayor of Cali, Jorge Iván Ospina, and called for calm and dialogue. In Candelaria, also in the department of Valle del Cauca, the murder of a young man who belonged to the so-called “front line” of the demonstrators was reported. According to the mayor of the city, Jorge Eliecer Ramírez, there was “a confrontation between the community and the young people who were on the barricades (blockade)”. The governor, Clara Luz Roldán, admitted that the security situation had spilled over and declared a curfew from 7 p.m.

Blocked conversations

Amid this deterioration of the situation in some places, mainly in the Colombian Pacific departments such as Valle del Cauca and Cauca, where in recent days a judicial seat and a mayor’s office have been set on fire, talks between the government and the strike committee thirst for stagnation. The preliminary agreement for the installation of a negotiation table has not yet been ratified, the parties being anchored in their red lines. While the strike committee demands as a first step guarantees for the mobilization, that the police repression cease and that President Iván Duque strongly condemns the abuses of the security forces, the executive now demands that the organizations that call the marches reject and raise roadblocks. Despite the deterioration of security in Cali, in the rest of the country, peaceful marches took place a month after the start of the national strike.

Unblocking the roads has become a priority creating friction, and the government now rejects the figure of humanitarian corridors on which the demonstrators have insisted. “For the national government, this point is not negotiable,” said Emilio Archila, Duque delegate for the rapprochement. “We must make it clear that the blockades pose a threat to the rights of all Colombians. They affect mobility, employment, entrepreneurship, the movement of goods and services, destroy jobs, ”said the president himself on Friday in an interview with Blu Radio. “We must not only reject them, but also raise them with the full capacity of the law enforcement force of the territory.”

For the Government, the crisis also unfolded in the field of diplomacy, Colombia having been the target of an infinite number of external criticisms for the repression of the demonstrations and the repeated episodes of excessive use of force throughout. this month. On that front, Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez spent the week in the United States, where she traveled to contain the damage as soon as she was also named Chancellor. On Friday, he met Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who, according to his office, “expressed concern and condolences for the loss of life in recent protests” and “reiterated the indisputable right of citizens to protest peacefully”. The US foreign minister also supported the difficult dialogue between the Duque government and the strike committee, in addition to reiterating the Biden administration’s commitment to peace in Colombia.

Although the new foreign minister’s tour was dominated by tug-of-war around a visit by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to Colombia, as various social organizations have claimed, the meeting with Blinken is an achievement of defeated Colombian diplomacy. The government exposed it as the first visit it received from a Latin American leader. The social epidemic has come as Bogotá is still grappling with reshuffling relations with Washington after betting on the re-election of Republican Donald Trump, which angered many Democratic leaders. Fifty members of Congress from President Biden’s party criticized the protests and even called for the suspension of assistance to Colombian police.

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