To say civil unrest in South America has become something of an epidemic could, by some measures, be considered an understatement. Conflicts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile, and Bolivia have set the stage for massive protests to manifest in the country of Colombia as well. On November 20th, The Guardian reports that the Colombian government had planned to prevent a fervent outbreak of civilian protest by closing the country’s physical borders–hinting at the belief that insurgents from neighboring South American countries could be an influence on the magnitude at which riots reached within the borders of Colombia.

Who is Protesting and Why?

Strikes that took place on the 21st of this month most specifically addressed a cut to teacher and union worker pensions. As such, the main demographics of protestors included teachers, union workers, and students who chose to advocate for current members of those respective workforces–and to secure just compensation for careers they will soon possess.

As one young girl, Allison, interviewed in a post on the twitter of @redfishstream is quoted saying, “We are asking for the government… to see the other side of the country.”

"The revolution has always been in the hands of the young."



Allison demands change in Colombia and calls on President Ivan Duque's right-wing government to end the violence. pic.twitter.com/OFTNRfiRWg — redfish (@redfishstream) November 28, 2019

The current right-wing administration of Ivan Duque is facing mass scrutiny for this policy change. After only a year and two months in office, his approval rating has reached a mere 26%.

What has resulted from these protests?

A massive crowd of 250,000 protestors stormed through the streets of the Colombian capital city of Bogota on Thursday, November 21. These crowds, which included elderly individuals and families with young children, were met by the police with teargas. Protestors responded to the restraint with bomb blasts that brought about three police casualties at one of Bogata’s police stations.

(1/2) #27NParoNacional Day 7 of the National Strike in #Colombia: Thousands making their way up to the north of #Bogota #ElParoNoPara27N pic.twitter.com/UlUx45itln — Lukas Kapunkt (@LukasKapunkt) November 27, 2019

Marches on Saturday, Nov 23 were a part of the same effort against the right-wing government of Duque, but with an additional message: awareness for the death of eighteen-year-old Dilan Cruz, a youth protestor who was killed due to a teargas canister fired by the Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadron (ESMAD) riot police. Demonstrators hope to continue mourning the unfortunate death of Cruz as a symbol of the fight against the right-wing presence in Colombia’s government.

While the protests have been effective in unifying angered Colombian citizens together, a few protests have resulted in violence. Violent protestors have taken advantage of the situation to rob stores, light objects on fire, kill innocent civilians, and break and enter into homes. These series of incidents have been described as the “Colombian Purge” online, however, there is no such purge, just violent protestors using the situation to their advantage.

What do these protests mean for the country?

Citizens of Colombia are at an impasse with their current executive administration, as it has been the case for a large number of modern-day South American governments. Last week, Gustavo Petro, the left-wing candidate of last year’s Colombian presidential election, encouraged people of the country to engage in a “spontaneous cacerolazo – a traditional expression of protest in which people bang pots and pans,” to spark more demonstrations against the government.

With the case of Dilan Cruz, protestors made it clear they are at severe differences with the police efforts to contain their rights of dissent, and this rising tension may spell out further dissociation from the governmental administration in charge of the police force. It is apparent that left-leaning sympathy persists in the values of hundreds of thousands of Colombians, and it is unlikely for such a powerfully-demonstrated, widespread anti-establishment movement to disseminate with a mere whimper.

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