Despite the fear, they continue to take to the streets.
Since April 28, hundreds of thousands of Colombians have been demonstrating against the right-wing government of President Iván Duque, 44.
The tax reform, often put forward, is just one problem among many.
They denounce corruption, the neglect of minorities and the poor.
In some towns, such as Cali, the police violently crack down on these peaceful protests.
Official figures list at least 26 dead (the NGO Tembor already counted 37 on May 6) and more than 1,500 injured.
What is the origin of these manifestations?
Tax reform. To support the economy at half mast due to the pandemic, a bill provided for an increase in VAT on food, as well as an increase in the income tax of most Colombians (by taxing income from 656 dollars, or 542 euros per month). This law of sustainable solidarity mainly targets the middle and poor classes, while nearly half of the working population occupies informal jobs and nearly 45% of the inhabitants live in poverty.
Yet “in 2019, the Finance Act lowered taxes for the rich, supposedly on the pretext of creating jobs.
It cost the country 20.5 billion pesos, ”Senator Gustavo Bolívar, one of the opposition leaders, recalled in our columns.
The government was therefore counting on an increase in fundraising of $ 6.3 billion over the next ten years.
But political opponents, unions and even executives of the ruling party rejected it outright.
So much so that President Iván Duque backtracked: after four days, he withdrew his tax reform project, promising a new version without its most contested points.
Its Minister of Finance, at the origin of the text, has been replaced.
What are the demonstrators asking for?
If this tax reform was the trigger for the crisis, it is part of a more global government project. "This protest movement, which in my opinion brings the social question to the heart of its raison d'être, has reappeared more than appeared," explains Christophe Ventura, research director at IRIS specializing in social movements and civil society. Latin American. It was already very powerful just before the pandemic: at the end of 2019, there were strong mobilizations in Colombia with the same actors, namely the Colombian unions, associations, left parties. "
At the time, the country was shaken by the pension reform.
“This movement is reappearing thanks to a reform which is not entirely new either.
Duque was elected on a program with several projects, which we also know in Europe: pension reforms, tax, labor market flexibility are in the drawers ”.
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Some Colombians are also expressing their anger at a government they consider corrupt.
“People think that we are demonstrating only against tax reform, but we are demonstrating against everything.
Against corruption during the pandemic, against glyphosate, against a lot of things, we can't take the government any longer, ”says Natalia Zapata, a 27-year-old photographer, in a video relayed to her Instagram account.
Why is the government's response so violent?
From the start, the demonstrations have been peaceful, festive and are emerging throughout the territory.
But in Cali, the country's third largest city, in southwestern Colombia, panic reigns: gasoline runs out and supermarket shelves are robbed.
In this epicenter of the demonstrations, “the worst had been looming over for several days, underlines the correspondent of Liberation in Colombia.
Protesters, journalists, neighbors had warned of the presence of cars, most often luxury 4x4s with tinted windows, making funny rounds, often at nightfall.
Passages sometimes accompanied by worrying bursts of gunfire, in different neighborhoods ”.
Peacefully marching members of the Indigenous Guard were injured.
As in Cali, some demonstrations were marked by violence that left at least 26 dead (observers and NGOs number around 40) and more than 1,500 injured among civilians and law enforcement officers.
The video below, relayed by (centrist) Senator Armando Benedetti, shows Cali on fire.
"The inhabitants denounce the explosions and abuses of the police throughout the city," warns the senator on his Twitter account.
In #Colombia, the conservative government of Ivan Duque is slaughtering the people who are rising up against an unjust tax reform.
Police fire live ammunition & burn houses.
In 24 hours, more than 20 dead and more than 800 injured pic.twitter.com / zzi4MO7MQL
- Rémy Choury ℹ (@RemyChoury) May 4, 2021
Every day, Natalia Zapata walks the streets of “militarized” Cali with her camera to document the protests.
“Currently, I fear for my life, that of my family, of my friends,” she confides in her video, moved to tears.
The photographer evokes "tanks" and a "disproportionate" use of the police force.
May 2, 3, 2021. Demonstration and repression in the city of Cali (Colombia), epicenter of demonstrations since April 28, 2021. Yeiderman Cortés Yeiderman Cortés
“The response is violent for several reasons: it is a hard right-wing government, which has a culture of repression, analyzes Christophe Ventura.
His whole game was to say: here is an erratic movement, manipulated by delinquency, the FARC, the terrorists.
He plays order against chaos.
And it is true that there is in this movement violence and scenes of looting, because it also carries people in social and political rupture.
They are also instrumentalised by the powers to disqualify the movement.
"
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How is the international community reacting?
The police repression drew severe criticism, in particular from the UN, the European Union, the United States and international human rights NGOs.
The Canadian Embassy in Colombia responded by condemning "the disproportionate use of force by the security forces", and "urges that the violence cease".
France remains silent for the moment, which is denounced by several elected officials of France Insoumise.
In #Colombia, the paramilitaries and the police set fire to the homes of opponents and shoot in the crowd.
Help us to alert.
Colombians are calling for help.
- Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) May 4, 2021
For analyst Laura Gil, “the videos (of the repression) are so numerous that the numbers do not matter” and “with the militarization of cities and police abuses […] Iván Duque has lost the support of the international community”.