Protests in Colombia: what is the reason for the clashes that have already left 19 dead
Colombian flag protesters; wave of protests started with tax reform proposal but should continue even after the project has been suspended
Five days of protests against a tax reform project in Colombia left at least 19 dead (including 18 civilians and a police officer) and 800 wounded, according to information from the Colombian Public Defender's Office.
Local human rights groups say the death toll is over 20.
The crisis caught the attention of the UN Human Rights Office, which accused Colombian security agencies of excessive use of force. The UN said it was particularly shocked by events in the city of Cali on Monday night (May 3), when the police reportedly opened fire on protesters.
Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano, for his part, accused armed groups "criminals" of violence in the protests, but did not confirm the circumstances of the death of many protesters.
'Ensuring the continuity of social programs'
Last Sunday, already facing four consecutive days of protests, President Iván Duque asked Congress to remove the tax reform bill from the voting list so that it could be revised and become "the result of consensus, in order to avoid uncertainty financial ".
"The reform is not a whim, it is a necessity," Duke continued on Sunday. "To remove it or not (from the agenda) was not the discussion. The real discussion is to be able to guarantee the continuity of social programs."
The project had controversial points, such as raising taxes on income and on basic products, in order to increase tax collection and prevent the Colombian debt from generating the loss of more points in risk assessments by international agencies, in addition to institutionalizing income and create an environmental conservation fund.
The government defended the need for this increase as a way of collecting the equivalent of 2% of GDP and sustaining the social programs implemented during the covid-19 pandemic.
Colombian President Iván Duque called on Congress to withdraw the tax proposal from voting, but said reform remains necessary
Although the plan also included more taxation on wealth of millionaires, critics of the project say that the increase in revenue should not be at the expense of increases in the income tax of the middle class.
Economists from different sides agree that Colombia needs a tax reform that allows it to raise more to keep its accounts up to date and also preserve the reputation of Colombian stability with international creditors.
Duke's proposal was considered by many to be "ambitious" and "progressive" for a center-right government, by creating permanent mechanisms for distributing income to the most vulnerable populations and raising the taxation of the wealthiest.
But many considered the timing of the project "inopportune", when it was presented to Congress in the midst of the social crisis caused by the pandemic - and also "insufficient" in the effort to distribute income.
Now, the question is what kind of renovation will replace the original project.
Furthermore, even when Duque announced the suspension of the project, the clamor for social protests continued, with the slogan "the strike continues" - in reference to the original name of the movement that spearheaded the protests: National Strike.
Although the movement is criticized for presenting a large number of demands, being quite heterogeneous and difficult to define, there are three general lines that make it up.
1. More egalitarian economy
Despite Duque's effort to highlight the distributive value of his tax reform, his government's economic initiatives face an perhaps irreparable obstacle: mistrust.
Alberto Carrasquilla, who resigned on Monday, was one of the targets of protesters
Duque is a staunch ally of the private sector and his (now ex) Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla, who resigned on Monday under pressure from protesters, is famous for his neoliberal orthodoxy in favor of large companies. In this way, both embody the economic model that the protests target.
Although this model has allowed Colombia macroeconomic stability, it also makes the country one of the most unequal in Latin America and the world.
The popular movement argues that the Colombian economy is "rooted in political clientelism" that has exempted the large agricultural and mining oligopolies from taxes, among other sectors.
2. Police reform
The mistrust of the protesters goes beyond the economic model and is also manifested against the security forces, a key institution in a country that has a 60-year history of armed conflicts.
Anti-protest squad in Colombia; Police violence has generated calls for reform in the policing model
In the first four days of protests this week, the local NGO Temblores has documented 940 cases of police violence and is investigating the deaths of eight protesters allegedly attacked by police.
In September 2020, also during protests, the murder of 13 people under police repression in Bogotá sparked debate about the need for police reform, which includes the dismantling of a squad charged with suppressing demonstrations.
The Colombian police are part of the Ministry of Defense and are structured - in their training, language and objectives - for the context of armed conflict against a concrete enemy: the Marxist guerrillas.
Two weeks ago, Duque created a military justice "with financial, administrative and operational independence" that is not under the command of the Ministry of Defense, in signal in favor of this reform.
However, the initiative was met with criticism because members of the police will continue to be tried by the military.
3. Better implementation of the peace process
The search for a different economic model and a different police force has to do with the idea of a new country.
The generation that leads the street protests grew up in a country at war, under the polarization of the Cold War and today has as its main desire a policy that overcomes the traumas of the conflict and allows to discuss topics such as education, social rights and legalization of drugs - among other themes missing from decades of the Colombian debate.
Juan Manuel Santos and leader of the FARC, Timochenko, when he signed a peace agreement in 2016; implementation of the agreement is one of the demands of the generation leading current protests
In this sense, one of the first gestures expected by them from the government is the implementation of the peace agreement signed by predecessor Juan Manuel Santos with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) in 2016.
Duque defends a peace policy whose main objective is the productive development of the regions most affected by the armed conflict. But critics say the partial implementation of the project has led to an increase in massacres, murders of social leaders and mass displacement of residents of remote areas of the country - bringing back painful memories of the toughest times of fighting.
One of Duke's main strategies against guerrillas and armed groups that are financed from drug trafficking is to reactivate the glyphosate spraying of coca leaf crops, interrupted in 2015 at the recommendation of the World Health Organization and after multiple peasant protests.
On Saturday, Duke insisted on the importance of the military in controlling popular protests. In the words of one protester, the fact that the president responds to conflicts with the same strategies as the past is proof that uribism - a group linked to ex-president Álvaro Uribe and to whom the current president is close - "does not want to turn the page because the conflict is convenient for his warmongering speech ".
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