By Fernando Alexis Jiménez on May 31, 2021
The request of the governor of Valle del Cauca, Clara Luz Roldán, to President Iván Duque to order “military assistance” – in Castilian terms militarization – has already left at least thirteen dead and more than thirty wounded, a little more than a day after it went into effect. The discredited mayor of Cali, Jorge Ivan Ospina, agreed with the request, becoming part of this “regional coup d’état”.
The local mayor’s argument was bellicose and lacking in depth: “I make a respectful call to the President of the Republic, Iván Duque, commander in chief of the Armed Forces, to deploy all the capacity of the Public Forces and to make military assistance effective to retake control of public order in the department, always with respect for human rights”. By doing this Ospina simply contributed to ignite even more of the capital city of Cali which has become a national reference of struggle for more than a month, as well as other points of resistance in different municipalities.
In fact, he has kept agents of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squadron -Esmad- stationed inside the building where he governs from, without caring that there are citizens running errands and public officials fulfilling their schedule. He overlooked the jurisprudence on the non-permanence of the public force in the midst of a conflict, in those spaces where there is civilian population, as well as violating other postulates of International Humanitarian Law.
By allowing the military to deploy in the region, both the governor and the mayor opened the floodgates so that, through repressive actions, they could try to stifle social protest and legitimize all types of repression along the way.
Of course, this is nothing that should come as a surprise but he ordered the closing of the border with the department of Cauca in order to prevent the entry of indigenous people from coming to join the protest and to block the arrival of a national caravan in solidarity with Cali.
Hours of terror
The Colombian newspaper El Tiempo is claiming that after the implementation of the so-called military assistance Cali and Valle del Cauca are living hours of terror.
In one of the sections of the article, the journalists state, “some citizens feared for the demonstrators because of what happened hours before near the Universidad del Valle and in the Ciudad Jardin neighborhood, where there was also structural damage with a fire in the Icetex facilities. However, men carrying guns with silencers arrived in that sector of the street 4B and Quinta and shot at the crowd wounding many.
In a communiqué that went viral, several social and indigenous leaders expressed their anguish and impotence, for being in a state of defenselessness, “This day was one of the worst experienced since the beginning of the National Strike. At the points of Univalle and Melendez, the indigenous communities of Cali, were demonstrating, in union and joy with our own music, with our dance. We were groups of the ten cabildos of the city. The public forces attacked us, regardless of the fact that there were children, elderly people and women, simply because President Duque had come to the city to meet with “good” people, as they call businessmen. And it was Duque who gave the order to attack us.” The social leaders accompanied their complaint with images that are not published to protect their safety. Videos that are going viral show Duque being booed and called an assassin every time he got out of his heavily armed vehicle by spontaneous crowds.
But not content with committing arbitrary acts, the agents of the ill-named order, attacked with more force, as the story continues: “They murdered our indigenous brother, Sebastián Jacanamijoy, student of Univalle, of the Inga indigenous cabildo of Cali, dancer, traditional doctor and a young man who gave us an example of struggle during all this time. They also seriously wounded Izan David Imbachi, son of the Municipal Councilor of Culture. Leonardo Imbachi, a young artist, musician, singer, composer, student, performer of the Chirimía as he tried to calm the tension that was being experienced in the place”.
In different parts of the capital of Valle del Cauca, for several hours, helicopters have been flying overhead, gunshots and the shouting of young people fleeing from the attacks have been heard. These complaints have already been filed with different authorities and human rights organizations. Results are expected to show how massacres, injuries and even torture have been the response of President Duque’s government to social protest.
Demobilize the strike with blood and fire
The objective of President Iván Duque, who definitely showed Colombia and the world that the National Strike is too big for him and that is why he refuses to negotiate with the organizers, is to stop the expressions of nonconformity with blood and fire.
This is the only way to explain why he has allied with the governor of Valle del Cauca and the mayor of Cali, to turn the Department and its capital city into a national pilot of repressive actions to silence the voices of those who protest.
Contrary to expectations, thousands of people have decided to defy the repressive policy of the establishment and continue to take to the streets. The dead that still remain in the morgue unidentified and the dozens of wounded, seem to become seeds of civic and peaceful rebellion that are surfacing everywhere.
Of course, there are critics in favor of the national government. Those who have always had, those who experience chronic myopia and do not know what is happening in Colombia because they enjoy privileges that thousands of people do not have.
They are a small group as evidenced by the president’s tour through the streets of Cali. The rich people of the so-called Ciudad Balin (formerly Ciudad Jardin), in allusion to the attack on the indigenous people in that area, encouraged him. When he went before merchants, they booed him and encouraged him to listen to the young people in the different points of resistance. In essence, his presence was not well received due to the mixed reactions, as expressed in a report in the newspaper El Espectador. Videos that are going viral show Duque being booed and called an assassin every time he got out of his heavily armed vehicle by spontaneous crowds.
With a reality like this, with the certainty that the military presence will continue in Cali and Valle del Cauca, one can only wonder if the conscience-if they have one-will let the governor, Clara Luz Roldán and the mayor, Jorge Iván Ospina, sleep in peace.
Author’s blog: https://cronicasparalapaz.wordpress.com
Source: Alainet