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In large white letters, the names of the anti-government protesters killed in recent weeks are written on a main street in the Colombian city of Cali: Nicolás G, Marcelo A, Jovita O, Yeisson A, Cristian M, Daniel A, Jeisson G.
Most were under 25 years old. The youngest, Jeisson Garcia, was 13 years old.
Colombia has experienced a wave of violence of the last month. What started as protests against tax reform they have evolved into a more radical call for a review of the country’s economic model. Protesters are boiling over police brutality, inequality, corruption, lack of opportunities and a host of other issues. The hatred towards the conservative government of Iván Duque is palpable.
Although there have been deaths across the country, it is striking how many have occurred in Cali and the surrounding region of the Valle del Cauca. Of the 58 people killed nationwide, 31 were in Cali and eight more in the region, according to Indepaz, a non-governmental organization.
By contrast, the capital of Bogota has recorded three deaths and Colombia’s second city, Medellin, only one.
The government has recognized 17 deaths across the country, about half of them in Cali, a city of 2.3 million people in the southwest of the country.
“Cali has become the epicenter of discontent,” said Sebastián Lanz de Temblores, an NGO that has been monitoring the violence. “We have seen members of the armed forces armed to the teeth attacking civilians exercising their legitimate right to demonstrate.”
The reasons for the emergence of Cali as the “capital of resistance” in Colombia are discussed.
Many residents blame poverty and inequality, both have risen sharply during the pandemic, but government statistics suggest that these issues are no worse than elsewhere in Colombia.
Another explanation is the drug trade. The Cali cartel of the 1990s has been dismantled, but the city is still flooded with cocaine and a violent and armed criminal, more so than Bogota or Medellin.
The murder rate in Cali is 48 per 100,000 inhabitants, much higher than in Bogota (13) or Medellin (14), which has lost its reputation as the capital of the murder of Colombia.
There is a lot of confusion about who is committing the murder. NGOs say security forces are responsible for the vast majority of deaths. Police say they never shoot peaceful protesters and only send their weapons to criminals, vandals and people who shoot them first.
The government blames the “terrorists”, the “criminal groups” and the left-wing guerrillas. Says elements of the country’s traditional Marxist guerrilla groups – the FARC and the ELN: they have infiltrated the protests.
Diego Arias, a former left-wing guerrilla and now an analyst in Cali, says there is probably some truth to the claim. That is why the Cali police face such heavy armament and respond in kind.
“Cali police believe they are entering a war zone and are not controlling a protest,” he said. “And when you’re at war, shoot directly at the enemy and not into the air.”
Last week, a police officer, Juan Sebastián Briñez, 22, was shot dead while he and his colleagues were trying to stop the looting of people in a supermarket in the poor neighborhood of Calíso, Cali. “I’ve never seen anything like it or heard so many shots,” fellow officer Marvin Lisalda said as he recovered from his hospital injuries.
One of the most troubling aspects of the violence is the emergence of armed civilians who have opened fire on protesters. In early May, they attacked a convoy carrying indigenous activists by the city, injuring about ten people. The identity of the assailants is not yet clear, but area residents blame the hired thugs who work for drug traffickers.
There are other dimensions, racial and ethnic, to the protests. Cali has one of the largest black populations in Colombia and some protesters say the city’s police force is a racist institution.
The southwest also has a large, vocal indigenous population. On the first day of the protests, indigenous activists in Cali demolished a statue of Sebastían Benalcázar, the Spaniard who led the conquest of this part of Colombia in the 16th century.
Social media is flooded with information and misinformation. Creepy videos show bodies allegedly washed in the Cauca River, allegedly people abducted during the protests. Protesters say hundreds have “disappeared.”
Still, most protests are peaceful. In one of these scenes last week, thousands of people gathered in a park that has become a rallying point.
The parents brought small children. Protesters waved the Colombian flag. Feminists, indigenous activists, Afro-Colombians, students and traditional leftists gathered under a blazing sun to listen to speeches and music.
The atmosphere was festive. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck.
“Attempts have been made to stigmatize the protest and represent us all as vandals, but there are all kinds of people here,” said Maria Alejandra Lozada, a 26-year-old nurse who divides her time between protests and treatment. of Covid patients in a public hospital.
But at night the shooting and destruction begins. In the slums of Siloé and Calipso, on the outskirts of the city, shots can be heard many nights. Tuesday night, pyromaniacs destroyed the court of justice in the nearby city of Tuluá.
There has been a backlash against violence and vandalism in recent days. On Tuesday, thousands of people dressed in white marched peacefully through Cali, demanding reconciliation and an end to the bloodshed and blockades.
But there is no indication that the demonstrations will end soon.
“We must move forward and not lose momentum,” said Mar Sanchez, one of the organizers of the Cali protest. “We must also work to ensure that this effervescence generated by the protests is reflected in the 2022 elections. We cannot hold demonstrations for a month and then, when the elections come, vote again for the same elderly people.”
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