Ivan Duque, de rechtse president van Colombia, heeft in ‘alle wijsheid’ besloten dat de kosten die de Coronacrisis met zich mee hebben gebracht worden gecompenseerd middels een belastinghervormingswet, die sarcastisch de volgende naam meekreeg: ‘law of sustainable solidarity’ (‘wet van duurzame solidariteit’). Deze wetgeving is een cynische poging van Duque om de kosten van de Coronacrisis af te wentelen op het armste deel van de bevolking…….

De werkelijke naam van de wet is ‘Reforma Tributaria’ (in feite simpelweg ‘hervorming van belastingen ofwel: belastinghervorming’) en deze moet 6,3 miljard miljard dollar opbrengen, in Colombiaanse pesos is dat 23 miljard. Dit is een regressieve belasting (naarmate het inkomen stijgt is de last van deze belasting minder voelbaar) en wordt als onze btw geheven op producten als melk, suiker, koffie en graan, daarnaast dreigt er een belastingverhoging van 19% op zaken als water, elektriciteit en gas….. Uitleg dat deze wet de armsten treft lijkt me overbodig, immers hoe hoger het inkomen, hoe minder last je hebt van deze in feite schunnige prijsverhogingen…. (oh nu heb ik het alsnog uitgelegd)

De laatste belastinghervorming die Duque doorvoerde was in 2019, waar de financiële sector, olie- en mijnbedrijven van profiteerden door substantiële belastingverlagingen…….. (terwijl ze al veel te weinig belasting betaalden…)

Eind April begonnen de protesten met stakingen tegen deze belastinghervorming georganiseerd door het Comité
Nacional del Paro en de Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (resp. het Nationale Werkloosheidscomité en de Centrale Vakbond van Arbeiders) tegen vorig weekeinde (van 1 en 2 mei) braken grote demonstraties uit in de grote steden als Cali, Bogota, Medellin, Pereira en in honderden kleine gemeenschappen….. Vorige week zondagavond waren er branden te zien in een half dozijn steden, Duque trok de wet in, maar de gemoederen lieten zich niet meer sussen door deze maatregel, logisch als je ziet hoe onrechtvaardig de verdeling is in Colombia (en veel andere Latijns-Amerikaanse landen)…….

Afgelopen week bleven de demonstranten op de straten, niet alleen vanwege deze meer dan schandalige wetgeving, maar ook door het slechte beleid op de Coronacrisis* en het sentiment dat de regering elke gevoel mist met de worsteling en problemen waarmee het gewone volk dag na dag te maken heeft…… Deze woede is nog eens extra aangejaagd door het politiegeweld tegen de stakingen, waarbij minstens 30 mensen werden vermoord, honderden gewond raakten en bijna honderd mensen worden vermist (waarschijnlijk vermoord en in massagraven weggewerkt…… (in datzelfde land heeft de NAVO 2 militaire bases…..) Amnesty International heeft het geweld van de ESMAD, een soort mobiele eenheid (ME), excessief en onnodig genoemd, terwijl een missie van de VN in Cali door de politie werd aangevallen ……

De schrijver van het hieronder opgenomen CounterPunch artikel, Alejandra Marin Buitrago, gaat dieper in op de protesten en de smerige behandeling van demonstranten en stakers door de ESMAD. 

Het is nog steeds ongelofelijk dat de FARC zich zo in de luren heeft laten leggen door de Colombiaanse regering, zeker als je ziet dan het doel van deze organisatie: een fatsoenlijke behandeling van de onderlaag verder weg is dan ooit….. Niet voor niets ook dat een aantal leiders van de FARC zich niet meer gebonden voelen aan het vredesakkoord en de FARC-EP hebben opgericht…… Schande ook dat de NAVO militaire bases heeft in een land dat met zo’n bloederige straffe hand wordt geregeerd, zonder enige compassie met de grote onderlaag…….. Ach ja, de NAVO heeft als hun militaire baas de VS nooit problemen met dictators, zie ook de omgang met het reli-fascistisch geregeerde Turkije, prominent NAVO-lid…… En dan durft de NAVO als de VS te zeggen dat het voor verbreiding van democratie is en voor het handhaven van mensenrechten….. ha! ha! ha! ha! Smerige oplichters!! Verder moet niet vergeten worden dat de rechtse doodseskaders nog steeds actief zijn in Colombia, ondanks de leugens in een deel van de westerse pers dat dit niet meer het geval is….. (deze doodseskaders bestaan vaak uit leden van politie en leger, dan wel voormalige werknemers van deze organisaties…..) Leiders van vakbonden, mensenrechtenorganisaties en milieuorganisaties zijn hun leven dan ook niet zeker in dit vreselijk geregeerde land…….

Lees het artikel van Buitrago en zegt het voort, ongelofelijk de manier waarop er aandacht is voor deze zaak in de westerse reguliere media….. Zo liet de Telegraaf weten dat een Nederlandse moeder, van wie de keizersnede is gepland, problemen ziet vanwege het geweld in de stad Cali….. Niets over de oorzaak, op een foto zie je de moeder met een dikke buik en een kind op de schouders en daarnaast een andere foto met betogers die zo te zien de politie belagen, al krijg je de politie niet te zien, uiteraard geen enkele moeite om uit te leggen waarom het gaat….. Het AD komt vooral met berichten van de Colombiaanse overheid, ofwel het AD is klankkast geworden van de ijskoude, inhumane regering van Colombia, ook de cijfers over doden en vermisten zijn die van de overheid en deze liggen ver beneden de werkelijke aantallen……. Voorts wordt nog gemeld dat critici stellen dat de eerder aangekondigde verhoging van de btw, vooral de middenklasse zou treffen…… Wat een enorm verschil met de gelogen berichtgeving over Venezuela in diezelfde media…… Ongelofelijk!!

 May 7, 2021

Colombia on the Brink

by Alejandra Marín Buitrago

Photograph Source: Humano Salvaje – CC BY-SA 2.0

In the last week, Colombia has experienced the most widespread civil unrest of its modern history. Since Wednesday, April 28^th,
millions of people have taken to the streets to fight back against a
regressive national tax reform bill. The bill, farcically called the
“law of sustainable solidarity,” aimed to cover budgetary shortfalls
resulting from the paralysis of the economy brought on by COVID. In
fact, the legislation was a cynical attempt by right-wing President Ivan
Duque to shift the burden of the economic crisis onto those who can
least afford it.

The Reforma Tributaria, as the bill was called, aimed to raise US $
6.3 billion (about 23 billion Colombian pesos), through regressive sales
taxes of 19% on essential products such as cereal, milk, sugar, and
coffee. It also threatened to impose 19% taxes on utilities (water,
electricity, and gas).^[1]
Meanwhile, the financial sector and oil and mining corporations enjoy
substantial tax benefits that were granted as part of Duque’s last tax
reform in 2019.^[2]

Demonstrations began last week with a strike, called by the Comité
Nacional del Paro and the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (National
Strike Committee and the National Unions Council). By the weekend huge
protests had broken out in the major cities of Cali, Bogota, Medellin,
Pereira, and hundreds of other municipalities. On Sunday night, with
half a dozen cities up in flames, President Duque rescinded the bill.
But as you Americans are fond of saying, the horses were out of the
barn.

Throughout the week, protesters have remained on the streets in
force, fueled by anger at the poor management of the pandemic and
widespread sentiment that the government has completely lost touch with
the struggles and troubles of common people in the country. This feeling
has only been exacerbated by the extreme police brutality unleashed
during the strikes, which has left close to 30 dead, hundreds wounded,
and close to a hundred missing. Amnesty international has called the use
of force by ESMAD (the riot police of Colombia), “excessive and
unnecessary,”^[3] and the UN reported its own mission in Cali was attacked and threatened by the police^[4].

What has emerged in the last week is a distinct pattern, a contrast
between tense protests during the day and police terror at night.
Daytime protests are often led by strike committee members and other
civil society groups: teachers, civil servants, students, activists.
These protests have been attacked by the ESMAD, but have remained
largely peaceful. At night, the security forces’ reign of terror begins.
Across the country reports have emerged of kidnappings, assassinations,
random shootings at unarmed crowds, and rapes. As Bogotá based El
Tiempo columnist Sandra Borda said in an interview with the New York
Times, Duque appears to be offering an olive branch to protestors during
the day and sending police and thugs out to kill protestors by night.^[5]

In Bogota, the protests during the day have remained relatively
peaceful. Green Party mayor Claudia Lopez rejected Duque’s offer to send
troops alongside of ESMAD police and instead sent the army to guard
jails and police stations. However, protesters have denounced ESMAD
abuses and human rights activists have been detained. In the south of
Bogotá, the anti riots police (ESMAD) attacked protesters with an
electronic multiple projectile launcher propelled from a tank. The
“Venom,” as it is nicknamed, costs US $ 110,000, and the flash grenade
canisters of tear gas that it fires cost $ 71 a piece.^[6] By the middle of the week, on the 8^th
day of protests more than 27,000 protesters were gather in 20 points
around the capital. Despite heavy rains and strong ESMAD presence
protesters held rallies at cities main parks and universities. On
Thursday, a major of the police in a town near Bogotá was captured as
person of interest for the murder of the 24 year old Brayan Niño, who
has become a symbol of police violence in the capital.^[7]

Last weekend Cali, a city of 3 million (the third largest in the
country), became the epicenter of the protests. Famed for its Salsa
dancing, a huge “salsa party protest” broke out in the streets, with
people dancing to the rhythm of their beloved salsa music and the sound
of the cacerolazos (banging on pots and pans, a universal form of
protest in South America, especially when food is at stake). However,
this week the situation in Cali has become increasingly complicated. The
city has been the focus of an intense police and military crackdown on
the protest—it is by far the most militarized of Colombian cities at
this point. However, this is in part because the national strike has in
Cali been infiltrated by unidentified armed groups, which in addition to
looting and stealing gasoline have been accused of shooting protesters.
In one strange case, protesters actually convinced looters to return
goods to stores. On Tuesday, Caleños endured twelve-hour-long Internet
and power outages. Protesters were panicked because they could not get
through to their families and post on social media, the preferred mode
of denouncing ESMAD’s abuses. As of today, Cali has suffered the most
cases of police brutality and murders,^[8] and is running out of gasoline, as the main access roads to the city are barricaded.

North of Cali, in the heart of the coffee region, Pereira was the
site of the tragic death of Lucas Villa-Vargas, one of the faces of the
movement. On Wednesday evening, Villa-Vargas, a college student of
physical education, was standing on El Viaducto, the main bridge running
into Pereira, when he was killed by a gunman in a drive-by motorcycle
shooting. As people who live in popular neighborhoods in Colombian
cities know well, two men approaching on a cheap motorcycle is an
ominous sign. Along with Villa, the gunman shot two other young movement
members, who are now fighting for their lives at a local hospital.^[9]
The mayor of Pereira has offered rewards for capturing the gunman and
hundreds of thousands of viewers have seen Lucas’s assassination online.
Amongst Pereiranos there is little doubt that Villa’s murderer was a
hired gun. Lucas’s leadership had become highly visible among the
protesters in Pereira; sadly, such recognition in social justice
protests often comes with a high cost in Colombia.

The rage over the proposed tax reform also comes amidst one of the
worst waves of Covid outbreak in the world. In many cities’ ICUs are at
full capacity, and the vaccination drive has been a resounding failure.
Less than 8% of the population have received the first dose and many of
those saw their second doses postponed as far as three months due to
lack of supplies. Instead of prioritizing direct negotiating with
Pfizer, the government authorized private health companies to negotiate
in order to purchase doses for the elite. Public testing is hardly
available, and at $50, private labs testing is well beyond the budgets
of most families.^[10]
The day after the strikes began, the Minister of Health tweeted a
threat that cities with large strikes and protests would have their
already poor supplies of the vaccine suspended. He retracted his
grotesque threat a day later, but the damage was done.^[11]
Social media and news outlets have ridiculed the incompetence of the
government and the high-profile staff who, as is well known throughout
the country, fly to Miami to get vaccinated while prioritized groups in
the low-income class wait anxiously for their first shots.^[12]

As in many countries, so in Colombia, covid has exacerbated what were
already, before the pandemic, outrageous wage and income disparities
and deep inequality. In Colombia 63.8% of the population earn no more
than a minimum wage, equivalent to US $270 monthly (DANE, 2020), and 2.2
million Colombian families eat only twice a day (DANE, 2020). The
percentage of people living in poverty went from 35.7% in 2019 to 42.5%
in 2020 (Portafolio, March 2021). Contrast this with the government
officials who were poised to push through the regressive reform. In
Colombia, a member of congress earns thirty four times the minimum
monthly salary, or around US $9,430 every month. Congressman and women
also receive a monthly quota of plain tickets, a rented bulletproof car,
insurance, cellphone plans, and staff salaries for a total monthly cost
per member of US $ 25,837.^[13]
As far as public spending goes, in March, Duque announced a decision to
acquire twenty-four last generation F-16 air force planes for US $ 4.5
billion. On Tuesday, May 4th, amid the protests, the minister of finance
withdrew the plan.^[14]

Across society, Colombian inequality is backed by a well-consolidated
stratum system. In the strata system, urban areas get assigned a number
from one to six according to the quality of the dwellings and urban
development (Decree-Law 3069/1968; Law 142/1994). The stratum system is
unique to Colombia, designed in the late 60s to redistribute utilities
costs by assigning subsidies to low strata (1 and 2) through
overpayments from high strata (5 and 6). However, in reality, it has
become a widespread mark of status and contributes to discrimination and
social immobility. While the strata system is not based on household
income, it has led to outcomes that are similar to the effects of
redlining in American cities. In a large city like Bogota, a strata 5
person in the north could spend his or her entire life without setting
foot in the poor south. In all likelihood, the maids, nannies, and
doormen working for them are the only close relationship with a low
strata person that high-strata people ever experience. This total
disconnection, separating rich and poor, perhaps explains why
vice-president Marta Ramirez recently blamed informal workers themselves
for not having savings to ride out the pandemic, adding that they
should stop expecting welfare to solve their problems and urging them to
take the pandemic as an opportunity to “rebrand” themselves.^[15]

Colombians have tended to respond to such ignominies with
meme-gallows-humor in social media. Likewise, they responded to colossal
corruption scandals, and continuous incites of public money defraud.
Each corruption scandal floods the news for a few weeks until it
dissolved into the next, hardly ever any high public official is held
accountable or the public money recovered. Meanwhile, neighboring
countries have overthrown presidents and convicted high officials for
similar white-collar crimes. Accurately, conservative sectors flaunt
that the country is the steadiest democracy in the continent. But last
week, sarcasm and passivity gave way to fury.

The resilience of the protesters is a hopeful sign for a country that
has not witnessed the level of popular urban protest and progressive
political organizing as many of its neighbors on the continent. Colombia
was, of course, home to Marxist guerrilla movements, most famously the
FARC, and experienced a half-century-long civil war. This war, however,
was fought in the rural hinterlands while cities remain in compliance
with every neoliberal reform implemented by one right wing government
after another. For decades, the very presence of the unpopular guerilla
helped the government and elites stigmatize and delegitimize any
political activity that showed the slightest socialist influence. When
more muscle was needed, paramilitary groups could be relied on, and
Colombia was long one of the most dangerous places in the world for
union organizers.

However, as Hylton (2020) has written, many Colombians see their
current political situation as a potential historical opening. President
Duque’s labor reform bill in 2019 catalyzed a nationwide urban
mobilization not seen since the 1977 civic strike.^[16]
In this presidential period, protests have emerged as a regular feature
of Colombia’s political landscape. The defeat of the regressive bill is
an unprecedented triumph for the youth, the urban poor, and the unions
of teachers and health care workers who promoted the uprising. The
government, eager to regain control of the situation, has reached out to
the Comite del Paro to accelerate the time table for talks. The Strike
Committee has maintained that the demilitarization of the cities is a
condition of its coming to the table.

Update: When this article was written it was reported that Lucas
Villa-Vargas had been killed in Pereira. He was shot eight times and was
presumed dead. Almost miraculously, it now appears that he is in
critical condition in a hospital in Pereira. The people are asking that
the city name the bridge where he was shot–Pereira’s most notable
architectural feature–in his honor.

Thanks to Patrick Madden for editorial assistance.

Notes.

1. https://www.semana.com/finanzas/articulo/reforma-tributaria-cafe-chocolate-azucar-y-otros-productos-de-alto-consumo-que-tendrian-iva-del-19/202104/ ↑

2. https://razonpublica.com/el-regalito-tributario-a-las-companias-de-minas-y-petroleos-us-3-300-millones-anuales/ ↑

3. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/05/colombia-amnistia-denuncia-respuesta-militarizada-represion-policial/ ↑

4. https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2021/05/04/onu-colombia-denuncia-amenazas-ataques-cali-orix/ ↑

5. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/world/americas/colombia-covid-protests-duque.html ↑

6. https://www.elespectador.com/noticias/bogota/venom-el-arma-en-la-tanqueta-del-esmad-que-causo-panico-en-el-sur-de-bogota-en-el-paro-nacional/ ↑

7. https://noticias.caracoltv.com/colombia/capturan-a-mayor-de-la-policia-por-muerte-de-brayan-nino-durante-protestas ↑

8. https://www.rcnradio.com/colombia/pacifico/policia-confirma-que-ya-son-los-10-muertos-en-los-cuatro-dias-del-paro-en-cali ↑

9. https://www.elespectador.com/noticias/nacional/paro-nacional-denuncian-tres-heridos-por-disparos-en-el-viaducto-de-pereira/ ↑

10. https://www.elespectador.com/noticias/salud/la-farmaceutica-pfizer-anuncio-que-no-vendera-sus-vacunas-a-privados-en-el-pais/ ↑

11. https://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/ministro-de-salud-de-colombia-anuncio-que-no-se-suspende-el-envio-de-vacunas-al-valle-del-cauca/202102/ ↑

12. https://www.semana.com/economia/empresas/articulo/muchos-colombianos-viajaran-a-ee-uu-a-ponerse-la-vacuna-dice-viva-air/202157/ ↑

13. https://www.eltiempo.com/politica/congreso/salarios-de-congresistas-cuanto-cuesta-un-congresista-en-colombia-557675 ↑

14. https://www.semana.com/economia/macroeconomia/articulo/atencion-colombia-ya-no-gastara-14-billones-en-aviones-de-combate-confirmo-nuevo-ministro-de-hacienda/202150/ ↑

15. https://www.wradio.com.co/noticias/actualidad/marta-lucia-ramirez-invita-a-los-colombianos-a-no-ser-atenidos-en-medio-de-la-pandemia/20200507/nota/4036537.aspx ↑

16. https://nuso.org/articulo/algo-esta-pasando-en-colombia/ ↑

Alejandra Marín Buitrago is a Ph.D. student in urban
planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She’s a Colombian
lawyer and a former law in professor the cities of Pereira and Bogota.
She can be reached amarin32@uic.edu.

======================================

* In landen met een grote arme onderlaag vallen de meeste Coronadoden, al is dat vooral te danken aan de armoede, het gebrek aan geld om goed voedsel te kunnen kopen en de huisvesting van de armen die veel te dicht op elkaar moeten leven in de sloppenwijken, hetzelfde is het geval in de VS (waar 14 milljoen kinderen honger lijden), Brazilie en een land als India……. 

Zie ook: ‘Colombia van zins
gevluchte Venezolanen een verblijfsvergunning te geven, terwijl VPRO’s
Edwin Koopman fascistisch uit de ‘propagandabocht’ vliegt‘ (en zie de links in dat berich!!)

‘9 ‘ex-FARC rebellen’ vermoord door leger Colombia: FARC-EP opgericht‘

‘Mensenrechten-
en milieuactivisten worden massaal vermoord in Brazilië en Colombia,
waar het laatste land NAVO bases heeft…….‘

‘Paus Franciscus in Colombia om vrede te prediken……‘ (en homofilie, abortus en euthanasie nog eens te veroordelen!!)

‘VS commando’s vechten o.a. in Midden- en Zuid-Amerika, aldus het VS ministerie van oorlog………‘

‘NAVO gaat VS helpen in Zuid-Amerika terreur uit te oefenen: Colombia lid van de NAVO………‘

‘Koenders heeft vrijlating gegijzelde Spoorloos makers in Colombia bewerkstelligt……. AUW!!!‘

‘NAVO naar Zuid-Amerika? Weg met dit agressieve, terroristische bondgenootschap, NU!!!‘

Voor VS terreur in Bolivia:

‘NOS met fake news over Bolivia‘

‘Bolivianen eisen hun president terug‘

‘Bolivia: staatsgreep maakt eind aan succesvol presidentschap Evo Morales‘

‘Bolivia: bewijs op tafel dat VS aanstuurt op een coup”

Bolivia’s Evo Morales ‘unhurt’ after helicopter emergency landing

The US EMBASSY in Bolivia continues carrying out covert actions to support the coup d’état against President Evo Morales.

Bolivia Closes 2018 Among The Highest Economic Growth Rates

Bolivia’s Remarkable Socialist Success Story: President Evo Morales has transformed his country’s economy with an unapologetically left-wing agenda.