The government of Iván Duque and the most visible front of the protesters in Colombia resumed their approaches on Sunday, although without envisioning a quick way out of the bloody crisis that has already completed a month and fuels new protests daily.
The leaders of the strike denounced on Sunday night, six days after announcing that they had reached a pre-agreement, that the government refuses to sign the so-called “pre-agreement of guarantees of protest”, while the government clings to the condition of lift the blocks before sitting down “to build agreements.”
“The only thing we ask the Unemployment Committee to sit down to build agreements is the lifting of the blockades,” the government explained in a statement, after the last meeting held today with the representatives of the National Unemployment Committee, which is criticized for turn for not having a real representation on the protests.
The government, which hides behind the “thousands of Colombians representing millions” who have taken to the streets today to protest against the national strike, asks that they “commit to carry out every action or conduct that is necessary for them to rise up, so that all blockades in Colombia will cease forever. “
And he regrets that the National Unemployment Committee “instead of showing solidarity with Colombians, has insisted on its support for the blockades.”
This Sunday the security forces reported 87 roadblocks by protesters. Several of the affected points are in the surroundings of Cali and other areas of the southwest of the Colombian territory.
“We have received a new proposal (…) I trust that it is a proposal that makes reasonableness, that takes into account the interests, but that we mainly make sure that the blockades are over,” Emilio Archila warned in a video to the media, Counselor for Stabilization and Consolidation.
Although this organization does not summon all the sectors that are in the streets, it is expected that its approaches with the authorities will begin to defuse the crisis.
However, the Unemployment Committee dampened expectations by accusing the government of maintaining “a complicit silence with the excessive use of force by the police.”
The Committee denounced that the government has removed from the pre-agreement that they had reached on Monday “crucial issues” such as demilitarization and the non-use of military assistance in the protest, since President Iván Duque resorted to this measure on Friday, after the events of violence in cities like Cali, in the southwest, or Madrid, in the center.
“It is not about adjustments in the wording, as they had announced, it is about undoing the pre-agreement reached and thereby closing any possibility of negotiation,” the Committee alleged, noting that the national government has a “simulated will to negotiate.”
Widespread protests began on April 28 in rejection of a tax reform that succumbed, but have since expanded to demand a basic income from the poor, job and education opportunities for young people, and to end police violence, among other demands.
The young people who lead the popular uprising demand an explicit condemnation of police violence and guarantees for the protest.
Likewise, they invoke reforms that configure a more solidary State in the face of the economic blow of the pandemic, which on Saturday again broke the daily record of deaths and has the health system on the brink of collapse.
Marked by violence
The month of protests has been marked by violence. The NGO Temblores and the Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (Indepaz) recorded 60 deaths during the protests of the last month in Colombia, of which 43 are attributed to the public force. Of the total deaths, 39 took place in Cali, the majority in the first week of protests.
The Prosecutor’s Office, for its part, counts 43 deaths, although only “17 of them have a direct link in the framework of the protests” and continues to search for 123 people who have disappeared during the demonstrations.
With “the escalation of military and police measures, the already very delicate human rights situation is blocked, spoiled and the efforts made to start the negotiation are wasted, unnecessarily prolonging and at very high costs, a solution, which in any case will be to through a negotiation “, considered this organism.
Both the UN, the European Union and several countries called on Saturday for a serious dialogue as a solution to the crisis and to prevent more violence and more people dying, after 13 homicides were confirmed on Friday in Cali after a day of clashes with the Police and the irruption of armed civilians in the protests.
The clashes led the president to order the deployment of troops in Colombia’s third city and in other parts of the country.
On Sunday morning, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, expressed her “deep concern” over the escalation of violence in Cali.
“It is essential that all persons who allegedly caused injury or death, including state officials, are subject to prompt, effective, independent, impartial and transparent investigations, and that those responsible are accountable to the law,” Bachelet requested.
White marches
Despite the great popular support that the protests have garnered, a part of the population is turning against it precisely because of the roadblocks and the daily marches.
The protests usually lead to the closure of businesses due to fears of looting, as well as the interruption of the public transport system that forces workers to walk hours to get to their places of work or their homes.
In Bogotá, Medellín and other cities, thousands mobilized this Sunday dressed in white and with banners calling for “peace” and “no more blockades.” They also wore T-shirts with captions such as “I protect my country” and several had altercations with those who support the protest movement.
“The cities are hijacking us, they are stopping the economy,” Patricia González, 45, told Reuters as she walked.
While acknowledging the use of excessive force by some police officers, González said that not all police officers were corrupt and that the protests had lasted long enough.
“When the attack is against life, people have the right to defend themselves (…) You have to understand that people protect the country and protect themselves,” argued Álvaro Aparicio, a businessman in the financial sector in his 60s.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an OAS body, urged the State on Twitter “to promptly and diligently investigate” complaints about attacks by civilians against protesters, “and punish those responsible.”
Duque further strained the pulse with the decree of “military assistance” that he signed on Friday night and empowers the army to support police work.
Some 7,000 soldiers were deployed in ten departments where protesters carry out road closures.
With information from AFP, EFE and Reuters
