Why are there massive protests in Colombia?
2:36
(CNN Spanish)
- The protests in Colombia do not stop.
For a week, Cali, Bogotá and various parts of the country have demonstrated against the government of Iván Duque, which has left, according to official figures, 19 dead and hundreds injured.
And these mobilizations reach the digital sphere, with the Colombian flag as one of the protagonists.
What is happening in Colombia?
Tax reform, protests, militarization of cities and threats to the UN
In social networks, people spread the situation in Colombia and show their anger at the violence used in the mobilizations.
One of the most widely replicated forms of digital protest is publishing the Colombian flag upside down.
Public figures such as J Balvin have denounced the situation in the country on their networks.
In a tweet, the Colombian singer published the flag upside down.
Colombia can't take this no more @CNN also in my Instagram accounts theres plenty videos of what's going on right now !!!
pic.twitter.com/XnF99aRSSH
- J BALVIN (@JBALVIN) May 4, 2021
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Other messages on Twitter, for example, mention that turning the flag upside down has a reason: it is a signal of help so that non-governmental organizations see the situation in the country and can intervene in some way.
There were even those who ventured to say that the meaning of the upside down flag is stipulated by the United Nations (UN).
🆘🇨🇴 THE FLAG OF COLOMBIA SHOULD BE VIRALIZED REVERSE DIFFUSED❗️❗️❗️❗️ #ResistenceColombia pic.twitter.com/mF2KTyM3SA
- lauracamila 🆘🇨🇴 (@lauracamilx) May 3, 2021
CNN sought a spokesperson for the United Nations Information Centers (CINU) to confirm this assertion.
"The UN does not stipulate the rules of the vexillology of flags or intervene in semiotics," the UNIS responded to the request for comment.
This is how the police responded to the protests in Colombia 2:18
Colombian flag and spilled blood
So what does it mean to turn the Colombian flag upside down on social media?
Richard Tamayo Nieto, a doctor of law from the Universidad del Rosario and a teacher in Philosophy from the Universidad Javeriana, said that this has to do with a criticism of a symbolic nature, since it contrasts with the meaning that schools teach students.
“When we are at school, they tell us that yellow represents the riches of Colombia;
blue represents water, it represents the fact that Colombia has both Pacific and Atlantic coastlines;
and red represents the blood of our national heroes who sacrificed themselves for the independence of the country, "Tamayo Nieto told CNN.
Artists and users in general, added the academic, "play symbolically" with the order of the flag to express the blood spilled in the protests in Colombia.
“Some make the red stripe bigger, precisely to emphasize the blood that runs in the country.
“And in this case (of the upside down flag that starts with the color red) what it is showing is that there is a bloodbath at the moment.
It is a way of signaling that there is a bloodbath ”, he concluded.
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