Despite intimidation attempts by the national government and the police, tens of thousands of people took to the streets throughout Colombia to protest the far-right government of President Abelardo De la Espriella.
The protest had been organized by social organizations, labor unions and the country’s largest opposition party, the Historic Pact.
Opposition leader Ivan Cepeda, who joined the protests in Bogota, told a reporter that the government is “exercising a mafia-style rule in the service of the worst elements of Colombian politics—the drug trade.”
Contrary to what De la Espriella is saying, this is not a government that opposes drug trafficking; it is a government that supports the drug trafficking cartels, the paramilitaries, and the ultra-conservative forces that want to destroy people’s rights, the democratic advances made by President Gustavo Petro, and the progress achieved by the popular movement over the past four years.
Senator Ivan Cepeda
“That’s why we’re here; we won’t allow people’s rights to be violated or trampled upon,” said the senator.
Hours ahead of the protest, the president signed off on a decree that changed the police response to protests and accused the organizers of being “instigators of evil” who “seek to once again cause chaos.”
Human rights organizations denounced that the security forces put snipers on the roofs of buildings in Bogota and in Cali, a helicopter flew over the heads of the protesters.
The protests sought to test the waters for an even larger “national strike” that is set for November and shut down parts of the country in 2021.
“We are only warming up,” warned Cepeda, who has yet to recognize De la Espriella as Colombia’s legitimate president after losing the elections in July.
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