Colombians To Take Over Bogota to Demand Duque to Dialogue

Colombia's National Strike Committee called on citizens to take to the streets of Bogota to protest against President Ivan Duque and State terrorism deployed through the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD).

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The "great takeover of Bogota" is a march that arises as a response to the negative attitude adopted by the Duque administration, which refuses to sign pre-agreements on guarantees for social protest and move towards the negotiation of the demands raised by social organizations.

This massive mobilization will begin at 10:00 local time from the National Park and will travel through the main avenues of the Colombian capital until reaching the Tequendama Hotel, where the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will hold a meeting with the social leaders.

Previously, the National Strike Committee expressed its dissatisfaction with the Colombian government's delays in the dialogue process.

"The obstructions observed so far evidence that Duque has little interest in solving problems related to unemployment, health, education, poverty, and generalized violence in the country," emphasized the protest leaders.

The representatives of the National Strike also indicated that they will hold meetings with international human rights defenders in Bogota and Cali where police brutality has been most intense.

On Tuesday night, however, Barranquilla city was also the scene of violence deployed by the ESMAD against those citizens who protested while Argentina and Colombia were playing a qualifying soccer match for the World Cup in Qatar. In this city, there were even reports of attacks on citizens with machetes, which occurred while the Police passively witnessed the incidents, as reported by Colombia Informa.

In a document presented to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday, Colombian social organizations denounced paramilitary attacks on the civilian population, registered 3,825 human rights violations, and typified 22 modalities of criminal actions attributable to the Police and the Army. The IACHR said that next week it will deliver its reports on the human rights situation in Colombia since the beginning of the protests on April 28.