What is Happening in Colombia?

In recent weeks there has been a massive surge in protests and violence in the streets of Colombia. Protests started at the end of April of this year in response to the ever-growing poverty and inequality worsened by the pandemic and the Covid related tax reform implemented by the Duque government.   

The police are responding to the unarmed protestors the same way they have been trained to respond to armed militia groups and cartels – with force, a lot of it. There are reports of police firing live ammunition into crowds of protestors,  hurling gas grenades into crowds, the assassination of unarmed people in the streets, sexual violence, and torture.  At least 50 people have been killed and almost 100 more are missing.    

Mayra Lemus, a protestor has stated, “This is not just about the tax reform. This is about corruption, inequality, and poverty. And all of us young people are tired of it.”   Nine indigenous demonstrators, who were marching as part of a “minga” or protest, were wounded by gunshots, the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca said in a statement reported by Reuters.

The President of Colombia has acknowledged that the police have been violent but he denies that it is part of a larger systemic problem.   Alarms have been rung all over the world in response to the violence and people are calling for reform and calm.    Amnesty International has signed on with 650 civil organizations to ask for a full investigation of the repression of protests and end the violence against the citizens of Colombia.  They are asking the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to visit Colombia and launch a thorough investigation.  You can read that report here.

Colombia will be having its next election in 2022. Duque is unable to run again as the law limits presidents to one term only.   For many decades Colombia has elected conservative governments.  That may be changing.  The leader in the polls is currently Gustav Petro.   Gustav was a member of a now demobilized guerrilla group and the left-wing ex-Mayor of Bogata.  The governments’ response to these protests will certainly factor in next year’s elections.   The UN has released a statement that read in part “We are deeply alarmed at developments in the city of Cali in Colombia overnight, where police opened fire on demonstrators protesting against tax reforms, reportedly killing and injuring a number of people.”

The militarization of the police started in the 1950s in response to political violence. The then-president,  Gustavo Rojas Pinilla put the ministry of defense in charge of the police force.   The police were heavily involved in the fight against FARC, a Marxist–Leninist guerilla group that rose up in 1964,  as well as the hunt for Pablo Escobar and other major drug lords.   The United States provided Colombia and its military/police forces with billions of dollars over 30 years in the “war on drugs”.  There are now over 160,000 members of the Colombian police force and currently receive 27% of the ministries budget.   That is more than double the members of what it was in the 1990s.

Even though FARC disbanded in 1997 and Escobar was killed in 1993 there are still many issues plaguing the communities including ex-members of FARC who refused to put down their fight as well as the Clan del Golfo and National Liberation Army (ELN).  These groups and others have been responsible for the murder of over 100 community leaders.  The leaders were attempting to return lands to indigenous people and the guerillas opposed this.  There are also several murders of people who were suspected of colluding with rivals.   The murder rate in Cali makes it number 26 in the world in this category.   Domestic abuse and rape of women and children have risen 165% since the beginning of the pandemic. The police in Colombia do not make people feel safer, it is the exact opposite.  The focus on militarized service puts civilians’ concerns and safety on the back burner.  Charges are only filed in 25% of murder investigations.  Due to abuse by officers, people are very reluctant to trust them and most do not report crimes.  Militarized police made more sense when they were at war with guerilla forces, but now with no retraining or reintegration into regular police forces, it continues to rule with a heavy hand. 

All this history of bad blood between police and its citizens has only added fuel to this powder keg that is now imploding in the streets.   According to Temblores, an NGO in Colombia monitoring violence,  there have been over 1800 reports of police violence since April 28, 2021.  They have tweeted that the protesters in Cali should go home as their lives are more important than anything else.   Officers in the National Police force have been responsible for the murder of at least 11 protestors in the first week of May.  The police have also been on the receiving end of violence.  A police station was set alight trapping 10 officers inside.    This and other instances have reignited the debate of defending the police vs reform deep within the system.  The police and military also receive very little pay so it is impossible to attract educated people to the positions.    Whatever issues the Colombian citizens have had with the police and government have only been exaggerated by the despair brought on by the Covid pandemic.   The countries debt shot up 20 billion dollars during the first part of the pandemic alone.  Unemployment has almost doubled.

There are calls for the Minister of Defence, Diego Molano, to resign.  However, he has stated the police officers’ conduct has “fallen within the law”.   Meanwhile, the neighborhoods in Cali are subject to police helicopters flying overhead, officers firing live rounds into crowds of protestors, tear gas grenades, blockades, and more bodies piling up.  The Ministry of Defense has deployed 47,500 uniformed personnel countrywide. In Cali alone, 700 soldiers, 500 riot police officers, 1,800 other police, and two helicopters have been put into operation.

Many had hoped that the peace agreement between the government and FARC in 2016, would end the decades-long war that cost 260,000 lives and forced 7 million people from their homes, but so far it hasn’t happened. 27,000 have been displaced this year alone.   Since Duque took power in 2018 protestors continued to be treated as the enemy and met with violence.  “The government is continuing to criminalize social protest and stigmatize them as being infiltrated by guerrilleros,” said Pedro Piedrahita, a political science professor at the University of Medellín.  “Colombia’s public security organism are still operating under the anachronistic doctrines of anti-communism, of an internal enemy, and as such protesters aren’t seen as citizens but as legitimate military targets that need to be taken out – no matter what.”  Amid the unrest, Mr. Duque initiated a formal dialogue with civil society leaders, noted his “respect for peaceful protest” and said that all violence against civilians and public servants should be “investigated and punished.”  But in the interview, Mr. Duque said he did not believe the police department needed significant reform. He said that the police have a “zero-tolerance” policy toward abuse, and pointed to the fact that the police inspector general has opened at least 65 investigations into alleged misconduct.

For up-to-date videos and images from Colombia in this ongoing situation,  you can follow Diego Cancino, a former member of the municipal council of Bogata.  Information is also available via Amnesty International,  the United Nations, and various new outlets.