The horror of the nights in Cali during the protests in Colombia

His breathing is ringing as fast as if he had just played a soccer game, but in reality his body is still, he seems dead. The adrenaline comes from the filming which occurs a few meters from where he is, lying on one of the main avenues of the city of Cali, Colombia, while recording everything on his cell phone.

Later José Dávila gets up, walks in the middle of the darkness to where the medical mission is and in the middle of the noise nine more bullets are heard. Everything is chaotic again in the La Luna sector, one of the most disturbed places in Colombia’s third largest city, since the start of the national strike (general strike) on April 28.

This raid leaves two people with gunshot wounds; one of them is a friend of José. Both have donated medical supplies and food to those keeping the protests alive in this central area of ​​Cali.

“Detonations”

The mobilizations were called in the context of the rejection of a tax reform proposed by Iván Duque’s executive to Congress which, according to experts, would strongly touch the pocket of the Colombian middle class.

The project was withdrawn by the national government, but eleven days later the protesters’ demands They stepped up to withdraw the health reform underway in the Congress of the Republic, implement peace agreements, put an end to police violence or prevent hydraulic fracturing, among the many demands heard in the streets.

In the once branch of heaven, the nights seem to be hell. Un periodista de la ciudad, curtido en hacer reportajes de guerra en el vecino y convulso departamento del Cauca dice que solo la vida en zona de conflicto armado se le parece a lo que ha vivido los últimos días en su casa, a unas cuantas cuadras de The moon.

“As soon as the night comes, the helicopter flight begins, you hear the detonations, the explosions. I had only felt the fear of the last few nights of the many times I was in Toribío, ”explains the journalist, who prefers to remain anonymous.

To better understand, it suffices to say that Toribío is a town in the Cauca, nestled between two mountain ranges, who suffered 800 extinct guerrilla attacks of the FARC before the signing of the peace agreement with the government in 2016.

Thus, Matilde Roldán, housewife, is in emotional crisis because she does not know the war on the ground, but he lived the facts up close has occurred in the Cali Nights since the start of the protests.

Helicopters also fly overhead during the day and ambulance sirens sound, but at night these sounds sharpen and growl the gunfire, the bangs, the quick footsteps, the cries of “they’re killing us”.

Regarding the demonstrations, according to figures consolidated by various groups and organizations, of the 47 victims of homicides during the demonstrations, 35 took place in Cali, notably between April 30 and May 3.

The Office of the Ombudsman and the Office of the Prosecutor are lowering these figures to 27 people killed during the days across the country, of which only 11 are said to be directly linked to the events, 7 are “under verification” and there are nine who do not. are unrelated to protests. .

Matilde’s voice, trembling and torn from screams, was immortalized in a video that circulated in fragments on social networks. Police are seen throwing stones at him to prevent him from continuing to record, her husband confronts them with harangues of “murderers”.

One of these agents, emboldened, turns around and replies that he “doesn’t care” if I see him. None of the cops have their ID numbers on them in uniform and wearing motorcycle helmets, which prevents their recognition.

Internet outages

The bullets, the explosions are always repeated in the same districts of Cali in the middle of the twilight. Sometimes they cut off the electrical service and the internet signal is so weak that it has become almost impossible to do live broadcasts like those which at the beginning of the marches showed the murder of a young graffiti artist who took part in a vigil.

Neighbors ensure that cuts in these services are ordered by the government and become a gag order so that the world does not know what is going on; but the prosecution, in official statements, said that if there was any damage, it is precisely damage caused by vandals to this infrastructure.

When the day arrives, the official reports do not reflect the horror. Official casualty figures are not up to date, and are disputed between official bodies and organizations that are on the ground documenting all the human rights violations that are committed during these days.

As the sun rises, Cali plunges into a tense calm, for twelve days Its nearly three million inhabitants hope the next night will be better.

EFE Agency

PB