{"id":48400,"date":"2021-05-12T18:47:54","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T01:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/?p=48400"},"modified":"2021-05-12T18:48:02","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T01:48:02","slug":"colombian-government-chooses-force-over-dialogue-as-protests-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/colombian-government-chooses-force-over-dialogue-as-protests-continue\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombian Government Chooses Force Over Dialogue as Protests Continue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Deadly protests which have claimed the lives of 34 show no signs of slowing<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bogot\u00e1, Colombia<\/strong><\/em> – Deisy Paricio lights candles at a remembrance ceremony in the neighborhood of Soledad for those who have died during 10 bloody days of protest in Colombia. \u201cWe\u2019re here to denounce the actions of a criminal regime,\u201d she says, with a cold determination in her voice that borders on fury. \u201cWe\u2019re demanding justice. We are demanding dignity for the victims of this government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around her, a few hundred protesters hold torches and candles in their hands. They chant over and over again in rhythmic unison \u201cThe people, united, will never be divided.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a few minutes of silence, a speaker reads the names of the 34 people who have lost their lives since the nationwide protests began on April 28. After each, protesters bang the pots they have brought along just for this purpose, a Latin American communal protest tactic that dates back decades called a cacerolazo<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a display of solidarity with the people of Colombia, community members gathered at San Francisco’s Ferry Building on May 8, decrying the violence against peaceful protesters by Colombian President Ivan Duque. Photos: Corina De Leon<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The mood at the remembrance ceremony is very different than just 8 days before when tens of thousands took to the streets in song and dance, in a massive and festive protest march downtown, where they were promptly gassed by police forces and street skirmishes between angry youth and Colombian police spiraled into the side streets of the labyrinthine Bogot\u00e1 downtown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day by day the mood has grown more grim as state violence continued to escalate against mostly peaceful protests. Police have confirmed 34 deaths, though they say seven are unrelated to the protests. NGO\u2019s in the region claim the actual numbers are higher than official statistics reflect. Temblores, a human rights group in Bogot\u00e1 which has been tracking the violence, reports 37 deaths and over 300 wounded, with 1728 total registered cases of police violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have watched the increasing violence with extreme concern,\u201d said Alajandro Lanz, co director of Temblores. \u201cMost of the victims we have registered have been young who were protesting peacefully. There is no guarantee of life for anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media is flooded each night with a stream of graphic and disturbing videos of violence, mostly at the hands of police, as youths wage running battles in the streets amidst tear gas and flashgang grenades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the victims we have registered have been young who were protesting peacefully. There is no guarantee of life for anyone<\/p>Alajandro Lanz, co director of Temblores<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Both Temblores as well as another NGO, Indepaz, a peace monitoring group in Colombia have reported receiving credible reports of indiscriminate police fire against civilians amidst the chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a display of solidarity with the people of Colombia, community members gathered at San Francisco’s Ferry Building on May 8, decrying the violence against peaceful protesters by Colombian President Ivan Duque. Photos: Corina De Leon<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have to go,\u201d Lanz told EMS <\/em>at 9 p.m. on May 7, cutting short an interview. \u201cLike every night we are about to start receiving reports of the violence occurring across the country. Our investigators and lawyers will be focusing all attention on that over the next few hours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Activists called for a national strike in Colombia almost a month ago over rising violence, a spree of killings of social leaders, rising poverty as well as inequality and what critics see as failed promises on the part of the administration of president Iv\u00e1n Duque in regards to the country\u2019s 2016 peace accord with the rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC by their Spanish acronym).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal brought an end to a 50-year civil war in Colombia, but was also highly controversial. Duque won elections in 2018 promising to dismantle aspects of the accord, and he has fulfilled those pledges. Promised investments to rural communities never arrived, tactics in the drug war escalated and those who lost their lands in the half century conflict, who hoped peace meant that they could return home are still waiting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those issues have been boiling over a low heat for years, and culminated in 2019 with massive protests that were put on hold by the arrival of COVID to Colombia. Protests idled under extreme lockdown measures and a crippled economy that raised the poverty rate<\/a> to 42.7 percent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n