2019–2020 Colombian protests

The 2019–2020 Colombian protests are a collection of protests that began on 21 November 2019.[2] Hundreds of thousands of Colombians demonstrated for various reasons. Some protested against income inequality, corruption, police brutality and various proposed economic and political reforms proposed by the government of Iván Duque Márquez, others against the few violent protestors and in favor of the Colombian peace process, etc.[1][6]

2019–2020 Colombian protests
Protest in Cali
Date
  • Phase 1: 21 November 2019 (2019-11-21) – 21 January 2020 (2020-01-21)
  • Phase 2: 10 September 2020 (2020-09-10) – ongoing
Location
 Colombia
Parties to the civil conflict
Protesters
Lead figures
President Iván Duque No organized leadership
Number
Hundreds of thousands of authorities[1]
Hundreds of thousands to a million[2][3]
Casualties
Death(s)17[4][5] (as of 15 September 2020)
Injuries533[5](as of 27 November 2019)
Arrested500[5](as of 27 November 2019)

While mostly peaceful in nature, a few violent incidents took place throughout the protests, leading to overnight curfews in Cali and Bogotá. It is "one of the largest mass demonstrations Colombia has witnessed in recent years".[7] The second phase of the protests, which started on September 10, 2020, were more violent and resulted in 13 people dead.[8]

Background

Corruption
Main article: Corruption in Colombia
Comparison of corruption in Colombia with the world average and the least corrupt country worldwide, New Zealand

According to 2018 Corruption Perception Index data released by Transparency International to measure public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories, giving each a score from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), Colombia scores 36 points.[9] This is below the global average of 43 points, and makes Colombia the 99th most corrupt country in the world.[9]

Protesters have expressed anger at corruption perception in the country.[10]

Austerity measures

Rumors of possible austerity measures, denied by President Duque, angered left-wing groups, students and indigenous groups.[1][11] The idea of such measures originated from the introduction of a bill by Álvaro Uribe, mentor of President Duque.[1]

Peace process
Further information: Colombian peace process

Duque has been criticized strongly by human rights organizations for his opposition and ambivalence to the Colombian peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) as violence occurring in rural areas of Colombia resulted with the deaths of indigenous leaders. Also both FARC and the right-wing Colombian government have been accused repeatedly of human rights violations and of violating the peace treaty signed by both parties in Havana, Cuba in 2016.[1]

Income inequality

Inequality in Colombia refers to the existing economic and social inequality in the country. According to World Bank figures, in 2017, Colombia was the second most unequal country in Latin America and the seventh in the world, out of the total of 194 countries that exist on the planet. Despite sustained economic growth of gross domestic product, which stood at 6.6% between 2006–2014, the inequality index did not drop enough during the peak of the oil boom.[12]

As a means of demonstrating, labor unions organized a twelve-hour nationwide strike that was to be held on 21 November 2019, with other groups such as Indigenous leaders, students, and anti-corruption activists.[1]

Timeline

Time reports that the protesters in Colombia come from all backgrounds, and that they are protesting because of a general displeasure with government actions across a range of issues, triggered to action by rumors of pension cuts. These protests follow smaller student protests earlier in the year that failed to attract many supporters or attention, and have been inspired by the other protests across Latin America.[7]

21 November

On 21 November, many Colombians, estimated between 200,000 and over 1 million, protested throughout the country, with the government responding by deploying 170,000 troops.[11] The Colombian government also closed all of its borders.

Following similar demonstrations throughout Latin America, protesters displayed flags of Chile and Ecuador and banners reading "South America woke up", and chanted anti-violence slogans.[1] Demonstrations turned violent, with clashes between police and protesters occurring later in the day and some groups attempting to storm Capitolio Nacional, the building that houses the Congress of Colombia.[11] Fights broke out near the country's international airport, and tear gas was also fired at people at the National University of Bogotá.[7]

During the protests on 21 November, 68 out of 138 TransMilenio stations were vandalized, 48 percent of the system infrastructure.[13] The mayor of Cali imposed a curfew from 19:00 local time until 6:00 the next morning (UTC−5) as a response to violence.[6] In the evening, a spontaneous cacerolazo happened in the capital and several other cities, after which senator Gustavo Petro encouraged more protests.[14] On the first day of protests, three people were killed,[15] with 98 arrested and 273 combined protesters and security forces injured.[14]

22 November

The following day, thousands of protesters gathered at Plaza Bolívar in the capital Bogotá, where they were later dispersed with tear gas.[14] In response to the protests, President Duque said that he would open a "national conversation" after the weekend; the Defence Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said that 11 investigations into "alleged misconduct by members of the security forces" had begun.[16]

Transportation in the capital was largely closed, and road blockades had been built in some areas.[14] Many protests were peaceful, while some instances of looting and the theft of a public bus occurred in the capital city, where a curfew was enforced in the evening.[14] Some protesters ignored the curfew, with others protesting outside of Duque's house through the night.[16] In Santander de Quilichao in the southwest of the country, three police officers were killed, and ten more injured, by a car bomb.[14]

After the initial anti-austerity and anti-corruption protests had begun, other groups joined in demonstrations, including environmental action groups, animal rights groups, and women's rights groups.[7] The lootings happening in poorer areas have contributed to an increase in anti-Venezuelan sentiment, with some suspecting Venezuelan migrants to part of the perpetrators.[17]

23 November
Protest on 23 November

Going into the morning of 23 November, Duque said that he would not recall troops that had been patrolling in the streets, and that the measure was to maintain order.[10] After the previous night's curfew, protesters returned to the streets, with hundreds in the capital's National Park being dispersed with tear gas, and to Plaza Bolívar and the Capitol building.[10] When looting happened through protests and rioting, the government referred to the actions as an "orchestrated terror campaign".[18]

One protester was critically wounded on Saturday after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister, prompting other protesters to hold a vigil.[19] The protester died two days later.[20]

Police killing of Javier Ordóñez 10 September 2020

Protests erupted in response to the police killing of Javier Humberto Ordóñez, a 46-year-old Colombian father of two in the neighborhood of Engativá in Bogotá, while he was in police custody on 9 September 2020.[21] In a video of the incident which went viral on social media, Ordóñez could be seen "face down on the ground as two officers kneel on him and repeatedly use their stun guns on him."[22] Ordóñez could be heard saying "enough please, enough, no more, please" and "I am choking." Witnesses to the incident told police to stop repeatedly.[2]

Ordóñez was first transported to a local police station. A friend of his, Juan David Uribe arrived at the station to ask for him and stated, "when I arrived, my friend was practically dead, he was not moving. So I began to yell at police and told them, 'please help him, let's take him to the hospital'." Ordóñez was then transported to a local hospital, where he died shortly after. A family member reported that he had been tasered 12 times and stated "they told us that a person can endure more or less four."[2]

Local police attempted to justify the incident by saying that he had to be subdued. The video initiated thousands of protesters out to the streets. At least seven people died in the demonstrations and police reportedly took 70 people into custody. 248 people were injured, including 100 police. 5 of the people killed were shot. 58 people received gunshot wounds.[6] Claudia López, mayor of Bogotá, stated that "no one had ordered police to shoot at protesters" even though she admitted that this is what ended up happening. A BBC report stated that "there have been 137 complaints of police brutality in Bogotá this year" and that in November 2019 "tens of thousands of people took to the streets in memory of Dilan Cruz, a student who died after being hit by a projectile fired by riot police during an anti-government protest."[2]

Protests also occurred in Soacha, Medellín, and Pereira. The death of Ordóñez and the subsequent protests have been compared to the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent George Floyd protests in the United States.[23][24][25]

Favorable Support of Protest

the newly elected mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López Hernández, spoke in favor and encouraged the citizens of Bogotá not to fear protesting in peace (that was because the historically right-wing conservative Colombian government has had a long history of repressing protests in the past as a way of silencing dissent to controversial and unpopular and divisive right-wing conservative policies. Nowadays it is legal under Colombian Constitution of 1991 however, in practice only progressives and Greens support the right to protest in the political arena). Various sectors between public and private workers, very important university professors, students from public universities and some from private universities, popular soccer clubs like Millonarios F.C. and Santa Fe and groups from the political left confirmed their participation. Some personalities such as the singers Carlos Vives, Santiago Cruz and Adriana Lucía, the Miss Colombia 2019 María Fernanda Aristizábal, the senator Gustavo Petro, the member of ChocQuibTown Goyo and the actors Julián Román, Robinson Díaz, Juan Pablo Raba and Santiago Alarcón, in addition to the actresses Carolina Guerra, Cecilia Navia, Maria Fernanda Matus, and Margarita Rosa de Francisco, the journalist Daniel Samper Ospina, the humorist Alejandro Riaño, the soccer players Natalia Galán, Leicy Santos and Melissa Ortíz, as well as the Tour de France champion cyclist Egan Bernal and many others, also joined the movement.[26]

International Responses

The United Nations and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have demanded that the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation carry out an in-depth investigation to clarify responsibilities. "There should be no impunity," said the UN. Miguel Vivanco, HRW director for the Americas, has also addressed the new Defense Minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, to announce "measures to prevent this from happening again." The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and important British unionsexpressed their support for the National Strike in Colombia, as did the International Transport Federation (ITF) .155 Likewise, the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) expressed its support for the protests The Portuguese sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos sent an open letter to President Iván Duque to attend to the demands of the strike. The resident singers and Nicky Jam expressed their messages of support for the National Strike, as well as the Uruguayan footballer Nicolás Vikonis, who played between 2011 and 2017 in Colombia, Claudio Narea and Miguel Tapia, former members of the Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros, also expressed their support for the strike and the concert "Un canto por Colombia".

See also

References
  1. "With nationwide strike, Colombia joins South America's season of protest". The Washington Post. 21 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  2. Daniels, Joe Parkin (21 November 2019). "Clashes in Colombia as hundreds of thousands protest against government". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  3. "Colombia anti-government protesters clash with police". Deutsche Welle. 22 November 2019.
  4. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/colombia-police-brutality-protests-rage-day-bogota-200912160831909.html
  5. Frances Jenner (27 November 2019). "Excessive police violence in protests cause deaths and thousands of injuries". Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  6. "Colombia protests prompt teargas, curfew and border closures". CNN. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  7. "Hundreds of Thousands Protested Colombia's Conservative Government. Here's What to Know". Time. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  8. Colombia police brutality: Protests rage for third day in Bogota
  9. "Corruption Perceptions Index 2018 – Transparency International". Transparency International. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  10. "Colombia troops on streets as unrest continues". BBC. 23 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  11. "Colombia anti-government protesters clash with police". Deutsche Welle. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  12. https://unperiodico.unal.edu.co/pages/detail/pese-al-crecimiento-economico-colombia-sigue-siendo-uno-de-los-paises-mas-inequitativos-del-mundo
  13. "68 estaciones de TransMilenio fueron vandalizadas durante las marchas del 21N" (in Spanish). Conexión Capital. 22 November 2019.
  14. "Three Colombian police killed in bomb blast as Bogotá protests flare again". The Guardian. 23 November 2019. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  15. "Three dead in Colombia amid mass protests". BBC. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  16. "Colombia imposes Bogotá curfew amid fresh unrest". BBC. 23 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  17. Phillips, Morgan (23 November 2019). "Colombia imposes rare curfew in Bogota after violent anti-government protests". Fox News. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  18. Otis, John. "Protests in Colombia Stretch Into Third Day". WSJ. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  19. "Fear grips Colombia protesters as anti-gov't rallies turn violent". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  20. El Tiempo, Casa Editorial (26 November 2019). "En medio de homenajes, familia de Dilan anuncia despedida en privado". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  21. "Colombia protests: Death of man tasered by police sparks deadly clashes". BBC News. BBC. 10 September 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  22. Larnaud, Natacha (11 September 2020). "Violent protests erupt in Colombia after the death of a man repeatedly tasered by police". CBS News. CBS. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  23. Padgett, Tim (10 September 2020). "Colombians Protest Police Brutality As Javier Ordoñez Death Becomes A 'George Floyd Echo'". WLRN-FM. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  24. Jaramillo, Andrea; Fieser, Ezra (10 September 2020). "Bogota Explodes in Anti-Police Riots After Tasered Man Dies". Bloomberg News. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  25. "Famosos colombianos que apoyan protestas por asesinato de George Floyd". El Tiempo (Colombia) (in Spanish). 4 June 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  26. "Famosos colombianos muestran su indignación por el caso Javier Ordóñez". El Tiempo (Colombia) (in Spanish). 11 September 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
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