New national strike in Colombia after a week …

Thousands of Colombians took to the streets on Wednesday in the second national strike against the government of President Iván Duque, after a week of intense protests with at least 24 dead and more than 800 injured.. After the withdrawal of the tax reform which resisted, the demands of trade unions, indigenous peoples and students are varied: improvement of health and education, security in the most violent regions of the country and creation of a basic income . Under the magnifying glass of international organizations which denounce the abuses of the security forces, President Iván Duque called for dialogue and at the same time assured that behind the demonstrations hides the “drug trafficking mafia” which incurs “extreme vandalism and urban terrorism”..

Wednesday’s massive marches began mid-morning in Bogotá, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali and other regional capitals amid songs, music and Colombian flags. “No more taxes”, “Health and education” and “They are starving us to death” it could be read on some posters showing groups of demonstrators in Suba, one of the largest cities in Bogotá.

“It hurts the negligence of a deaf government, which prefers to send public forces instead of helping the people, prefers to help banks and big companies”, manifested Hector Cuinemi, a 19-year-old student who participated in the protests. In different parts of the capital, thousands of Colombians gathered to advance towards the central square of Bolívar, next to the presidential seat. In the afternoon a small group of demonstrators tried to enter the Congress of the Republic, a situation which forced the members of Congress who were in the premises to be temporarily evacuated and to suspend the meeting for a few minutes.

The Claretian religious community denounced that a Colombian police helicopter had landed “improperly” at one of their schools in Bogotá and conducted operations in the midst of the protests. “Police forces entered and used the educational facility arbitrarily,” authorities at Claretian College said in a statement. This school, located in the populated area of ​​Bosa, adds that neither the establishment nor the missionaries were aware of the activities, so they reject “this type of maneuver”.

In Barranquilla, the capital of the Atlántico department, thousands of demonstrators wearing Colombian football team shirts took to the main streets to reach downtown La Paz. In Cali, another hotbed of demonstrations, thousands of indigenous people joined the mobilizations, waving their batons and shouting “Resistance”. The protests were accompanied by roadblocks and roads which made traffic difficult. Some cities across the country are already experiencing gasoline shortages and worried about trucks being blocked with medical supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As has happened since April 28, the mobilisations are generally peaceful, even if in some towns they turn violent towards nightfall. According to official figures from the Ombudsman’s Office, at least 24 people have died, more than 800 have been injured and 87 are still missing.. Different NGOs denounce that the police shoot guns directly at the demonstrators and that the dead are more than 30.

The repressive response of the Colombian state has triggered multiple international reactions and has been condemned by the European Union and the United Nations, which have declared themselves “deeply alarmed” by the events. Repudiation has been added Amnesty International, What demanded that the Colombian authorities investigate “promptly, independently and impartially all allegations of excessive and unnecessary use of force against protesters.”. For its part Reporters Without Borders denounces 76 attacks on journalists.

Protagonist of an increasingly complex scenario, President Iván Duque assured that he would open “spaces for dialogue” to listen to all sectors of the country, without however specifying how these steps will take place. Faced with the rain of criticism of the abuses and police violence, the president chose to support the police, which he considers a victim of the anger of the demonstrators.

This Wednesday in a short official speech, The dolphin of Alvaro Uribe accused “a criminal organization which hides behind legitimate social aspirations to destabilize” and defined a reward of up to 10 million pesos ($ 2,600) for “effective collaboration to identify and capture perpetrators of vandalism.”

In the same spirit, the Colombian Minister of Defense, Diego molano, argued Tuesday that the actions of the police were carried out “on the basis of respect for human rights”. Opposition members of Congress responded by tabling a proposal to debate a motion of censure for “human rights violations” committed by security forces during the protests.

Duque has said he does not rule out declaring a “state of internal unrest” if the protests escalate. “I am not saying that I am going to do it or that it is imminent, what I am saying is that we do not give up any tool that the Constitution and the law give us to protect citizens.“the right-wing president said in an interview with Blu Radio. According to the Colombian Constitution, internal unrest is a state of emergency that can be declared by the president when there is serious disturbance of public order. that imminently threaten institutional stability.

Although Duque withdrew the controversial tax reform he proposed and promised to write a new one, the National Unemployment Committee, which brings together around forty social organizations and trade unions, he redoubled the bet with the call for a new mobilization and stopped this Wednesday. They are calling for the withdrawal of a project that seeks to privatize health, better management of the coronavirus pandemic and a basic income according to the food basket to alleviate one of the most unequal countries on the continent. Currently unemployment in Colombia is 16.8 percent and poverty reaches 42.5 percent of the population.