Colombia’s Duque calls for dialogue without “ideological differences” in the face of protests

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The President of Colombia, Iván Duque, called today to the different political, judicial, business, and social movements of the country to a dialogue “without ideological differences” to solve national problems and the violence that in seven days has claimed the lives of at least 19 people in demonstrations.

“We will install a space to listen to the citizens and build solutions (…) in which ideological differences should not be the main act but our deepest patriotism”, said Duque in a statement at the Casa de Nariño, seat of the Executive.

The President summoned to “this space” “all institutions, parties, the private sector, governors, mayors and civil society leaders motivated by the service to the citizenship”.

“The objective of this space is to reject violence in all its forms; to accelerate the National Vaccination Plan; to ensure resources to guarantee the continuity of social programs and the protection of the most vulnerable, and, of course, to boost economic reactivation,” the president said.

According to Duque, this national dialogue may begin tomorrow. Coincidentally, tomorrow is the day on which the trade union organizations and social movements have called for a new day of protests against the original tax proposal.

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The mobilizations, which began in November 2019 in protest against Duque’s economic policy, resurfaced with force last week after a hiatus of more than a year due to the pandemic that impoverished thousands of Colombian families and the trigger was the controversial tax reform bill already withdrawn by the president.

According to a report by the Ombudsman’s Office, 19 people have died during the demonstrations: 18 civilians and one policeman. It evaluates and classifies 140 complaints that include information on deaths, missing persons, police abuse, and injuries.

However, social organizations have released reports claiming that the number of victims is even higher than that of the Ombudsman’s Office. The NGO Temblores, which documents police violence, reported that from April 28 until today, it has counted “31 people victims of homicidal violence” due to police brutality.

BACKING FOR THE PUBLIC FORCE

Even though the UN Office for Human Rights denounced on Tuesday, May 4, that Colombian security forces have exercised an “excessive use of force” during the wave of protests that the country is experiencing, the president gave his backing to the uniformed forces that are in the streets.

“Because of the past of violence that we know, our commitment with life must be more forceful (…) that is the mission of our public force, and that is why we must support it, at the same time that we demand from it the greatest rigor in the fulfillment of its constitutional mission,” he said.

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He also said that “nothing justifies that there are armed people who, protected by the legitimate desire of the citizens to hold civic marches, go out to shoot defenseless citizens and cruelly attack our police officers.”