42 dead as Colombia protests enter 3rd week
BOGOTA/CALI: Anti-government protests in Colombia entered their third week on Wednesday as unions, student groups and other organisations convened a national strike ater fruitless talks with the government.
At least 42 people have been killed in near-daily protests against the Colombian government since April 28, the country’ s human rights ombudsman said.
Local and international human rights groups allege the toll may be even higher and have blamed police for the killings.
The updated toll made these the bloodiest demonstrations since Colombia signed a peace agreement with the FARC guerilla group in 2016, ending decades of civil war.
It is lower than the 47 deaths reported by NGOS, who claim at least 39 were the direct result of “police violence”.
The defense ministry has reported 849 police officers injured in clashes — 12 by gunfire — and has not updated the number of civilians wounded since May 3, when it stood at 306.
Demonstrations fuelled by outrage at a nowcancelled tax plan began in the Andean country on April 28.
Protesters’ demands have expanded to include a basic income, an end to police violence and the withdrawal of a long-debated health reform.
President Ivan Duque has offered dialogue, but smaller demonstrations and road blockades have continued daily around the country amid skepticism from protest leaders that government promises will lead to concrete change.
Many latin american countries—already deeply unequal — have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has rolled back some recent strides against poverty.
Similar protests over inequality and the impact of COVID-19 may occur in other countries like Brazil, said Gimena Sanchez, Director for the Andes at the Washington Office on Latin America, but inequality is not the only issue stoking discontent in Colombia.
“The colombia protests are not just about c ovid, they are about anger towards Duque for police repression from 2019 onwards, not advancing the 2016 peace accord, rising massacres and killings of social leaders and the perception by middle and working class Colombians that the government is only interested in advancing the economic and political elites’ agendas at their expense,” she said.
The protests come amid falls in the value of Colombia’s public debt, stock market and peso currency. Investors and analysts believe the country is likely to lose its investment-grade credit rating.