The Colombian Government and the Strike Committee clash over roadblocks

They didn't manage to advance an inch. It was another dialogue of the deaf. The National Strike Committee and the government held a second meeting without reaching an agreement other than to meet again on Thursday morning, accompanied, as up to now, by delegates from the Episcopal Conference and the UN. Meanwhile, the protests will continue, which have paralyzed a part of the country and hundreds of SMEs on the verge of ruin.

“The government said no to everything,” said the union leaders, after leaving the venue where they held the meeting, in the north of Bogotá, on Monday afternoon (night in Spain).. Minutes later, they issued a statement to make their position known, to which the Executive responded.

The bone of contention at the moment, which prevents them from beginning to negotiate economic and social aspects, has to do with the way to suppress the protests and has three initial demands by the Committee: eliminate the ESMAD (police body riot police), not resorting to the military to help protect strategic places, and letting them continue the barricades that block streets and national highways and are suffocating productive sectors. They also want Iván Duque to apologize for the deaths that occurred during the protests, 14, according to the Attorney General's Office, and another eleven that are being investigated.. The Committee, for its part, speaks of 40.

New mobilizations this Wednesday

“The government's only concern is the blockades and they demand that we lift them. And we have said that we will continue to agree on humanitarian corridors,” reads one of the points in the Committee's statement. “Whoever is violating the law, the one who is outside the law is the Government”.

They end up calling for “the largest and most peaceful mobilizations for this Wednesday, May 19, with all the biosafety protocols”. The latter, in reference to the concern of the health authorities about the crowds at a time when Colombia is experiencing the highest peak of the pandemic, with more than five hundred deaths a day from Covid and with saturated intensive care units.

The government, through the mouth of Miguel Ceballos, High Commissioner for peace and spokesman for the Executive, replied that they have “respectfully asked the National Strike Committee to express its explicit condemnation of the blockade and the use of violence in the demonstrations.”. In this regard, the government recalls the more than 800 injured policemen, dozens of banks, shops, gas stations and other public and private establishments destroyed by protesters.

He added that “the will of the government is the guarantee of the right to demonstrate,” and assured that they will continue to talk. But, at the same time, Iván Duque issued the statement that further inflamed the spirits of the Committee. “We have given instructions to all levels of the Public Force so that, with mayors and governors, they deploy their maximum operational capacity, within strict compliance with human rights, allowing all Colombians to regain mobility.”

Colombia, whose GDP had fallen by 7% last year due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, grew by 1.1% in the first quarter of 2021, but the national strike, which began on April 28, threatens to slow down abruptly what has been achieved. The port of Buenaventura, the only one in the Pacific, is almost paralyzed, as are several of the major roads in a country where cargo moves by road.. Hence, business associations demand that the government guarantee their activity.