This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
In neo-liberal Latin America, which is governed by the U.S. and its "Monroe Doctrine", human lives are worth nothing. What people demand is listened to, then analyzed, and in the end, used against them.
*
In Bogota, in front of the building of the Attorney General of the Nation (Procuraduria General de la Nacion), hundreds of protesters, mainly indigenous, were blocking a square, despite a heavy police presence in the area.
One of the protest leaders, Mr. Felix Rueda, spoke to me, in front of the camera, while the notorious Colombian police force, "Esmad" (the Mobile Anti-Disturbances Squadron), was slowly closing in on us, controlling all the nearby streets:
"We are victims of the armed conflict. We are people who were hit hard by violence; something we thought would never happen again in this country. I represent the victims. And I fight for human rights. All these people around here are victims of the armed conflict."
A lady behind him begins to shout:
"Here, almost all of us are victims. We are peasants, with no protection, whatsoever."
Mr. Rueda continues:
"These people are victims of the state violence; perpetrated by the armed groups."
I asked him why there are no mass media outlets covering their plight.
"Sometimes they come. But mostly just when we break down some doors, or when someone dies. One person has already died during the last weeks. Many were injured. Again, Colombians are now fighting against Colombians."
Another woman from the crowd screams at me:
"There are also rapes; girls are being raped, even boys--
Police, military and the para-military response to the protests in Colombia has been so outrageously tough, so violent, that even some mass media outlets in the West had no choice but to notice and to report the gravest excesses. The Guardian wrote on 11 December, 2019:
"For the past three weeks, Colombia has been racked by demonstrations triggered by widespread discontent with the proposed economic reforms of the rightwing president, Iva'n Duque, whose approval rating has dropped to just 26% since he took office in August last year.
Protesters are also angry at the lack of support for the historic 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), which formally ended five decades of civil war that killed 260,000 and forced more than 7 million to flee their homes.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
