With a new national strike, Colombia’s anti-government protests enter their fourth week on Wednesday.
The National Strike Committee, which coordinates the strike and peaceful anti-government marches, called for a new days of strikes to pressure the government into negotiations.
Attempts to violently repress the protests against far-right President Ivan Duque have allegedly killed more than 50 people and triggered permanent protests throughout Colombia.
The protests have spurred the resignation of Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla and Foreign Minister Claudia Blum and criminal charges before the International Criminal Court against Duque and Defense Minister Diego Molano.
The president on Monday ordered the “maximum deployment” of the security forces on Monday to clear roadblocks that have been set up throughout the country.
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(Image: Sergio Fernandez)
Bogota students took to the streets again in September 2019 in protests against corruption, but were brutally repressed by the ESMAD after police infiltrators engaged in vandalism.
In response, students across Colombia rose up to demand the dismantling of the loathed riot police unit on top of measures to curb corruption and government compliance with agreements that ended the 2018 protests.
Teachers joined the students in October that year and indigenous groups, farmers and labor unions joined to call for a national strike in opposition to a tax reform in November 2019.
First national strike
The national strike triggered the largest anti-government protests in more than four decades despite attempts to criminalize the protests.
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Protester at an anti-government protest in Bogotá, Colombia – May 12, 2021. Photo: Jc.roll99 / Shutterstock.com
April 28 has quickly turned into a historic date in Colombia. On this day, a broad coalition of social organizations and trade unions called a strike against the tax reform proposed by the far-right government of president Iván Duque. A skillful mix of government incompetence and state terror turned what would have been just one day of protests, into one of the most serious political crises in Colombia’s recent history. Each passing day, each new death, added an extra reason for protesters to remain on the streets and radicalize their tactics and demands against an elite that is out of touch with the daily hardships of ordinary Colombians, and whose actions exacerbate their sufferings.