The protests do not calm down in Colombia and the tension mounts before the big march on Wednesday – Telam

Protests in Colombia

Despite the government’s concession and nearly a week after the bloody crackdown, the protest movement has not calmed down today in Colombia with protests in different parts of the country, growing complaints inside and outside the country. outside the territory for “excessive use of force” by the police. and the call for tomorrow for a new major mobilization throughout the territory.

Students, workers, indigenous peoples and other civil society groups took part in protests and pickets in the cities of Bogot, Cali, Medelln and the Caribbean Barranquilla, a sign that the social upheaval triggered by the government’s tax reform has not ended, according to the newspaper El Tiempo.

All despite the fact that Duque announced the creation of a national dialogue table It must include the sectors and actors of the country in search of solutions to the dissatisfaction of the citizens.

“We will set up a space to listen to citizens and build solutions. They should not arbitrate ideological differences, but a deep patriotism. It is vital to have all the institutions, parties, the private sector, governors, mayors and civil society leaders, ”the president said, in a message to which his Twitter account replied.

The meetings will begin this Wednesday with the presence of “courts, control bodies, the prosecution, the presidents of the Senate and the House, as well as representatives of civil society, governors, mayors, associations, the private sector and those in charge of community action committees, among others, ”explained the president.

In parallel, the social front called for a march on Wednesday because “the people of the street are demanding much more than the withdrawal of the tax reform” and launched a new declaration with new demands, including withdrawal from the health reform project, better pandemic management and basic income based on the food basket.

The new demands are clear: demilitarize cities, punish those responsible for attacks on protesters, withdraw a bill that aims to reform local health in times of crisis due to the pandemic and have a higher basic income.

“The tax reform was the reason for them to exploit all the disagreements that communities have about this bad government,” left-wing force adviser Polo Democrtico told Tlam. in Cali, Ana Eroza.

In this city of 2.2 million inhabitants, capital of the Valle del Cauca department and epicenter of the demonstrations, new scenes of police repression and some riots were recorded last night, killing at least three people, according to the Cali Metropolitan Police.

This new crackdown was condemned Tuesday by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations.

“We are deeply alarmed by the events in the city of Cali in Colombia last night, when police opened fire on demonstrators protesting against tax reform, killing and injuring several people, according to information received,” a- he declared in Geneva, Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Even the humanitarian commission, made up of officials from the attorney general’s office, the mediator and the UN, has been “harassed and threatened”, he said.

The United States also urged Colombian law enforcement to “exercise maximum restraint” to avoid more deaths during the protests and called for “political dialogue.”

Faced with these calls, Defense Minister Diego Molano, He claimed that last night “a delicate situation of public order” was recorded in Cali and that the actions of the agents were carried out “on the basis of respect for human rights”.

“Our public force’s mission is to protect the citizens who mobilize during social marches, but they must be implacable with those who resort to vandalism and terrorist actions which seek to destroy cities and undermine stability in certain regions” , argument.

The government has also announced that it will send more than a thousand men from the military and army to strengthen security in Cali, militarized by the heavy crackdown and the unrest it has engendered since the protests began. .

A response that the opposition sees as a strategy of “delegitimizing social mobilization” and “a takeover of the city by Uribism in front of a local government which has proposed an alternative”, denounced Eroza, referring to the sector hardest right wing led by the ex-president and ally of the current president, lvaro Uribe.

“We have known nights of anguish, a lot of repression by the police, an extreme violation of human rights with direct clashes and shootings against demonstrators, with a death toll of more than 20 people who were killed in our city, ”he said.

However, for some sectors of the ruling Democratic Center, founded by Uribe, militarization is insufficient to cope with the unrest of recent days.

Several pro-government members of Congress have called on Duque to declare the so-called internal unrest – which was once known as a state of siege – envisaged in the Constitution in cases of “serious disturbance of public or institutional order. “. this cannot be overcome with “the use of the ordinary powers of the police authorities”, reported the newspaper El Espectador.

On the other hand, for the legislator of Cali, the only way to end the demonstrations is for the government to dialogue with the leaders of the social mobilization to understand “the national situation”.

“There is no other way because the country is tired of Uribism, the whole response is primarily military and in this sense people are extremely firm in continuing the strike, so they risk their lives, ”he said.

“Young people have lost everything, they have even lost their fear and, therefore, they face each other in the street because unfortunately they have nothing to lose,” he said.

A total of 18 civilians and a police officer have died since the start of the demonstrations against the tax reform and 89 have disappeared, according to a report by the Ombudsman.

However, human rights organizations speak of a greater number of victims, such as the Grita platform, which counts 1181 cases of police violence between April 28 and May 3, including 142 physical violence, 26 violence homicides, 56 gunshots. and nine of sexual violence by the police.