Colombian Government Rejects Issuing Apology for Repression of 2019 Protests

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – At the most critical moment in the relationship between the police and the citizens of Colombia, undermined after reports of police abuse that resulted in the deaths of 13 people in recent days, the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice, the main instance of ordinary justice in the country, on Tuesday reprimanded the government of Iván Duque for stigmatizing the social protests and recommended that he apologize, through his Minister of Defense, for the “excesses recorded since the mobilization of November 21st, 2019,” among other measures. However, on Wednesday, the government announced that it will ask for a review of the decision.

According to the higher court, the decision was taken “after a national issue of systematic, violent, arbitrary and disproportionate intervention by the public force in public demonstrations became apparent. The sentence, handed down in response to a redress action lodged by 49 citizens, also orders the suspension of the use of 12 caliber shotguns by the Riot Control Unit (ESMAD, shock troops) within 48 hours.

It was a such a weapon that killed young protester Dilan Cruz during the November 2019 protests, struck by BB pellet rounds. However, the court decision does not only refer to this case, which was one of the most visible, but to a number of systematic events that occurred in several parts of the country, which left at least 36 demonstrators with eye injuries and others requiring hospitalization.

Review

On Wednesday, the government of Iván Duque refrained from apologizing for the police abuse during the wave of protests that shook the country late last year. But instead, through its Minister of Defense, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, it announced that it will petition the Constitutional Court to review the Supreme Court’s decision.

The ruling mentions “physical injuries to demonstrators and the conduct of some police and Esmad (Mobile Disorder Squad) agents,” from which “it is inferred that there are failures and inability on the part of institutions tasked with maintaining public order to use the Republic’s weapons rationally and moderately, to the point of generating a well-founded concern among those who wish to peacefully demonstrate.”

However, the Executive’s reaction was in a different direction. The ESMAD “does not institutionally commit excesses”, Trujillo argued when reading a government communiqué. In the cases where the abuses were reported from November 21st as part of the national strike called by the unions and student organizations, “these would result from individual actions by some of its members,” which are currently the subject of criminal and disciplinary investigations by the relevant authorities, he added.

Another decision contained in the sentence extends to all Executive officials, who are guided to “remain neutral when non-violent demonstrations occur, even if they are intended to challenge the policies of the National Government.”

Recently, a report by the Foundation for Freedom of the Press (FLIP) showed that during the 2019 and early 2020 social mobilizations, the Presidency invested US$250,000 in advertising campaigns aimed at discouraging these protests.

The government should, according to the decision, convene a working group to “restructure guidelines related to the use of force against peaceful demonstrations” and draw up a protocol, called the Statute of Reaction, Use and Verification of Legitimate Force of the State and Protection of the Right to Peaceful Popular Protest. In turn, when the ESMAD is mobilized in a public event, the police will be required to hand over a list of unit chiefs and commanders in charge to the People’s Ombudsman (the body in charge of monitoring human rights in Colombia). “We will study the document in detail and conduct a judicious and clear assessment of it,” said the Minister of Defense, Carlos Holmes Trujillo.

The Court’s decision gains more relevance two weeks after the murder and torture of Javier Ordóñez, an attorney who was shot by taser gun and beaten while in police custody, which triggered two days of protests, riots and clashes between police officers and protesters, in which several officers fired indiscriminately at civilians, according to reports documented by the Bogotá City Hall. Thirteen youths died between September 9th and 11th.

After the reaction of civil society and the Prosecutor’s Office, the police suspended 14 officers who used their weapons on the nights of demonstrations. The government, including its Minister, claimed that the protests were “coordinated” by dissidents of the now defunct FARC guerrilla group who distanced themselves from the peace process and by infiltrators of the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last active guerrilla group in Colombia.

“The citizens’ public and peaceful demonstration or protest is guaranteed by the Constitution,” said Carlos Holmes Trujillo in his statement on Wednesday. He also described and defended the security forces’ current protocols, but at no point did he refer to any kind of apology, or say that he would abide by the decision. ” The ESMAD’s action occurs exclusively in response to violent and irrational actions that involve crimes, violate people’s rights and are not peaceful demonstrations,” he emphasized. He added that “the government will continue to fight vandalism and all forms of violence and terrorism, as is its constitutional obligation.”

His statements were in line with the strong defense of the public power the Executive undertook at a particularly critical time and despite the call for a crucial reform. The position taken by Duques, who even allowed himself to be photographed with a police jacket to show his support, placed him on a collision course with several political sectors, citizens, and now the courts. “With evidence, I asked the National Government to recognize the seriousness of police abuse, apologize and undertake a reform in the police. They said no to all three. Now they will be forced to comply by order of the Supreme Court,” reacted the Mayor of the capital, Claudia López, one of the main opposition figures, before a decision that she qualified as “admirable.”

Although social protests have been demobilized this year due to the confinement measures, reports of police abuses have been widespread, even amid the pandemic. The police’s image and credibility crisis has been mounting since the wave of demonstrations against the government in late 2019 addressed by the Supreme Court, and has been evidenced by surveys. In yet another of its decisions, the higher court urges officials to ” remain neutral when non-violent demonstrations occur, even if their purpose is to challenge the National Government’s policies.” After the Minister of Defense’s reaction, its compliance is suspended.

Source: El País