Pre-agreement between the National Unemployment Committee and the Government of Colombia

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(CNN Spanish) -

Almost a month after the start of the national strike in Colombia, the strike committee and the national government announced that they reached a preliminary agreement this Monday to set up negotiating tables.

The office of the High Commissioner for Peace in Colombia reported in a statement on Monday that pre-agreements were reached to strengthen the exercise of peaceful protest where there is state verification, independent bodies and international organizations.

These meetings between the Unemployment Committee and the Government are pre-negotiations to set up the dialogue tables.

The protesters asked the government for guarantees for the free exercise of protests and guarantees for the negotiating table.

Negotiations between the strike committee and the government continue this Tuesday.

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What are the points of the preliminary agreement?

Representatives of the National Strike Committee said last week that in order to initiate dialogues with the Colombian government, they are seeking "certain and verifiable commitments" to stop the violence, so that they can freely protest and advance negotiation processes that resolve the claims. of millions of Colombians who have taken to the streets since last April 28.

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This Tuesday, Laura Alzate, representative of the Colombian Association of Student Representatives of Higher Education (Acrees), read a statement in which she announced that the National Unemployment Committee reached "an agreement on guarantees for the exercise of the protest." , one of the points they were looking for to install the dialogue tables.

The preliminary agreement comes after nine days of talks with the government of President Iván Duque.

"We have reached a preliminary agreement that provides a general framework on the guarantees for the exercise of the protest that allows us to install and start the negotiations of the emergency document presented by the National Unemployment Committee," said Alzate.

This emergency document includes:

• Withdrawal of the health reform bill and strengthening of the vaccination plan against covid-19.

  (The health reform was shelved last Wednesday by Congress).

• Basic emergency income of at least one current monthly minimum wage (about $ 243 per month) due to the pandemic that has affected people's economy.

• Defense of national production (agricultural, industrial, artisan, peasant).

  Subsidies to MSMEs and employment with rights and a policy that defends food sovereignty and security.

• Free registration in public entities and not to the educational alternation.

  The government of Iván Duque announced last week that it will resolve the claims of millions of Colombians to low-income students by the second semester of 2021, but did not give more details on how this initiative will be articulated.

• Non-discrimination of gender, sexual and ethnic diversity.

• They reject the privatizations of public companies and the repeal of decree 1174 of 2020, which according to the labor unions, affects the general pension system for informal workers.

• Stop forced eradication of crops for illicit use and aerial spraying with glyphosate.

• Withdrawal of the reform to the Colombian Institute of Educational Credit and Technical Studies Abroad, Icetex, which is the entity that finances studies for low-income populations.

• That the government suspend the promotion of bills or decrees related to the issues discussed in the negotiation.

Alzate said that he hopes that the National Government will endorse the preliminary agreement and that the National Committee of the Unemployment will be able to "promote it" with the presence of Duque and thus begin the negotiation of the emergency document that includes the points mentioned above.

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The protests continue

Francisco Maltés, president of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Colombia (CUT), said the protests are going to "repower" and called demonstrations for May 26 and 28.

«We are going to repower this mobilization on Wednesday the 26th, Friday the 28th, one month after the start of the national strike.

We are going to carry out cultural events throughout the country in the afternoon, "said Maltese, adding that at night there will be" cacerolazos "against the Duque government.

Finally, Maltese said that they will support the motion of censure against Defense Minister Diego Molano, which will be voted on Tuesday in Congress.

After more than six hours of debate in the Colombian Senate and after the intervention of several senators and the response of Defense Minister Diego Molano, the president of the Senate, Arturo Char adjourned the plenary session and I quote for this May 25 to continue the debate and must call the Senate to vote for the motion of censure against Minister Molano.

Protests in Colombia