Night of terror leaves Colombian city’s court house in rubble

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The night of terror and chaos that the southwestern Colombian city of Tuluá experienced yesterday, reduced to rubble the Palace of Justice (main court house) that went up in flames after a mob set fire to the building in a day of protests led by blockades and violence.

“With pain in my soul, I categorically reject the acts of vandalism that have struck this Tuesday afternoon and evening. Tuluá had been an example at the national level in behavior during the acts of the protest itself. Still, today it has been vandalized,” said Wednesday, the mayor of Tuluá, John Jairo Gómez, in a public pronouncement.

He added that “unfortunately a group of people without love, without respect for the city and for others has vandalized the city, has caused damage to the traffic infrastructure, such as traffic lights and signs, has vandalized and destroyed a building as important and beautiful, emblematic and historic as the Palace of Justice.”

The fire destroyed almost the entire structure of the court house in the city located in the department of Valle del Cauca, 94 kilometers north of Cali, the regional capital and epicenter of the demonstrations that began on April 28 against the government of Iván Duque.

According to the mayor, the damage caused to the building is “irreparable”, as seen in the images and videos of the place destroyed by the fire.

CHAOS AND DESTRUCTION

The perpetrators were also accused of attacking the offices of the Mayor, the Department of Apiculture, and the Department of Transit, as well as “have affected the assets of entrepreneurs, of businessmen who generate employment in the city by attacking their businesses in the center of the city,” said Gómez.

On Tuesday, Tuluá experienced agitated moments with confrontations between the public forces and groups of protesters, and episodes of urban chaos in a new day of protests taking place all over the country.

As explained by the mayor, the clashes began in the morning when the authorities detained about twenty people, including some minors, “preventively after the recovery of mobility in the northern and southern areas of the city” that had been blocked.

“(I feel) a lot of sadness. We are here to serve society, we have provided a service, we have never harmed them, so I think we do not deserve that our workplace has been devastated. Let’s hope that these facts are investigated,” said a judge Maria Elizabeth Ramirez.

NEW DAY OF NATIONAL STRIKE

Colombia will live this Wednesday a new day of National Strike (march) for which numerous demonstrations have been called in the country’s main cities.

The day began in Bogotá with several blockades in several avenues and the closure of some Transmilenio mass transit stations in the city’s south.

“Today, again, we take to the streets massively and peacefully in different parts of the country. We again call on the government to negotiate with the different sectors. Colombia needs to be heard, not repressed,” announced the Colombian Federation of Education Workers (Fecode).

According to official data, 19 deaths have been confirmed as connected with the protests out of 43 reported by NGO Temblores.