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Thousands of Colombians took to the streets of different cities in the country to protest against a tax reform presented by President Iván Duque in the midst of a pandemic, in an attempt to cover a deficit in public finances.
(Credit: JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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A woman holds a poster rejecting the tax reform presented by President Iván Duque.
(Credit: JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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The protests were called despite a third coronavirus spike facing the country and has several cities on red alert due to a shortage of beds in ICUs.
On Tuesday, the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca, responding to a protection action, decided that the marches on Wednesday and May 1 should be suspended due to covid-19 until there are no secure biosecurity or herd immunity protocols.
(Credit: RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP via Getty Images)
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The demonstrations were called by workers' centrals, teachers, indigenous people and civil organizations.
(Credit: JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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In Cali, protesters toppled the statue of the Spanish conqueror Sebastián de Belalcázar, located in the west of the city.
The city's Secretary of Security and Justice, Carlos Alberto Rojas, said that the statue was being guarded by the police when a group of people arrived and demolished it.
(Credit: PAOLA MAFLA / AFP via Getty Images)
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A nursing student protests in Bogotá against the reform that critics say punishes the middle class in the midst of a pandemic.
(Credit: JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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Protesters are also protesting against corruption.
(Credit: JUAN BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
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| A bus of the state company Metro Cali was cremated amid the protests in that city. Videos on social media showed a group of people hitting, breaking glass and setting fire to one of the buses that was empty. In Cali, a curfew and dry law was decreed from 1 pm (it should begin at 8 pm) until Sunday, May 2 at 5 in the morning. In the context of the demonstrations against the tax reform, the authorities will "shield" public and private spaces with the city police and the Colombian Army. (Credit: CaliMio / Twitter)
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Defense Minister Diego Molano called on citizens to "refrain from holding public demonstrations" due to the pandemic.
(Credit: RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP via Getty Images)
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Calling not to go out on the streets, President Duque said on Monday that "although that constitutional right is respected, it is a duty to protect life, which is a sacred right, protect health, protect those who are saving lives in the clinics of our country ".
(Credit: Getty Images)
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According to information from the Bogotá Mayor's Office, the occupation of intensive city units in the city was 92% on the day of the protest.
The protesters protested the Duque government's tax reform, which among other measures proposes to increase taxes on funeral services to 19%.
(Credit: Guillermo Legaria / Getty Images)
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According to the Minister of Finance of Colombia, Alberto Carrasquilla, the deficit puts at risk the expenses of the Nation and the subsidies for those who have lost their jobs or businesses during the pandemic.
(Credit: MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)
(CNN Spanish) -
The director of RCN News in Colombia, José Manuel Acevedo, and Claudia Gurisatti, director of NTN24, denounced in a statement that the facilities of the RCN channel in the city of Bogotá were attacked by "violent groups" during the protests this Wednesday.
The event was cataloged by journalists as an attack on freedom of expression.
"From Noticias RCN and NTN24 we reject the attack suffered against the facilities of the RCN Channel, promoted and executed by a group of violent men that occurred today at 3 in the afternoon and that left material damage and put the integrity of journalists and workers at risk. "pic.twitter.com/KoTq7mVozU
- RCN News (@NoticiasRCN) April 28, 2021
"We value and respect the right to peaceful protest to express citizen nonconformity, but we clearly express that vandalism and the summons to it are forms of repudiable violence and not country-building," said the directors in the statement.
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The Bogotá Government Secretariat reported on its Twitter account that the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (Esmad) had to intervene to prevent people from entering the RNC.
This is not a protest.
Bogotá rejects vandalism and violence, "said the Secretary of Government.
#AEstaHora ESMAD intervenes to prevent a group of individuals from forcibly entering the RCN channel and destroying its facilities.
This is NOT a protest.
Bogotá rejects vandalism and violence.
pic.twitter.com/jLt4bq9BY0
- Government Secretariat (@GobiernoBTA) April 28, 2021
Thousands of Colombians took to the streets this Wednesday to protest against the tax reform of the government of Iván Duque, which seeks to cover a deficit in public finances.
The Finance Minister assures that this deficit jeopardizes the nation's expenses and the subsidies of those who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
The protests were called by workers' centrals, teachers, indigenous people and civil organizations despite the fact that the country is going through the third peak of COVID-19 infections.
Protest