Duque seeks support to contain protests while racking up criticism of crackdown

BOGOTÁ.- The statue of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada in central Bogotá is the latest collateral “victim” of a national strike that has put the right-wing government on the ropes Ivan Duque. A group of Misak natives decided to demolish the monument to the founder of the capital. “It’s a cleansing against the rapist and the murderer”protesters chanted shouting cheers at the strike.

“Rewrite the history of our country,” they said later in a statement. And all this a few meters from the Casa de Nariño, the presidential palace from where Duque tries to contain with a dialogue table an avalanche that has lasted ten days.

Colombians took to the streets last week to protest a controversial tax reform that has not received support in Congress. But among the majority, social unrest multiplied by the pandemic was swirling. A week and a half later, Colombia suffers the greatest crisis in its contemporary history.

In an attempt to find a way out, the center and the progressive opposition responded to Duque’s call reluctantly in the face of “police barbarism”, but motivated by his “patriotic goal”. The Coalition for Hope clarified that “we will continue to be opponents of Duque, but that does not prevent us from asking for unity in this emergency.”

“We must resolve through dialogue the situations of social injustice and despair that exist today”, read Humberto de la Calle, former vice-president and head of the negotiating team for the peace process in Havana. , in a press release.

The government also invited the Unemployment Committee to the national dialogue table and responded that it was ready to negotiate. The first meeting between the two will take place next week, something the Coalition for Hope also insisted, whose members came with t-shirts bearing the names of victims of the heightened violence in the country. country.

Along with De la Calle, important leaders such as former governor Sergio Fajardo or Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo were present, who designated the National Unemployment Committee as “the legitimate spokesperson for citizens’ demands”. They all called for a commission to clarify “serious human rights violations” and the establishment of a basic income for six million poor households.

Duque also opened the doors of Casa de Nariño to conservative leaders and former mayors, who supported the police force and called for the lifting of blockades, which make transport and supplies difficult in parts of the country. “They affect health services, the community, the sick and the food supply. They are bankrupting the economy ”, denounced on Twitter the former president Álvaro Uribe, who counted 15 blockades only in the surroundings of Bogotá.

A Molotov cocktail attacks citizens who demonstrate peacefully. On the one hand, the violence of the police, whom they accuse of shooting and using brutal force. And on the other, radicalized groups that destroy everything in their path and attack the police.

It is precisely the violence unleashed by the police apparatus that is one of the main obstacles to the channeling of negotiations. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has received 36 homicide reports so far, 11 of which have confirmed cases related to protests, including that of a police captain.

“The Duque government must take urgent and decisive measures to defuse the situation and protect human rights,” demanded José Miguel Vivanco, director for the Americas at HRW, alarmed by the indiscriminate and murderous use of weapons, arbitrary detentions and beatings.

“This is not even the case during the Pinochet coup. The top police will have to be prosecuted. This is what we call crimes against humanity, ”denounced the leftist Gustavo Petro, the big favorite to win in the presidential elections next year.

The Ombudsman’s Office, for its part, already has 26 dead, 17 in Cali. The institution attributes 11 of the violent deaths to the police and only one to individuals.

“We must all reject the violent. The criminal organizations are hiding behind the legitimate protest, ”defended the president, who expressly ordered to find the attackers of Lucas Villa, one of the symbols of the national strike. The activist was shot twice in the head while walking peacefully on the Pereira viaduct. The shots were fired from a nearby vehicle, which fled.

“A lot of us can die, but how can we not go out and walk,” Villa, 37, predicted in an audio recording hours before being hit by the deadly bullets. The man suffers from brain death, although his family prays for a miracle.