• Wide Angle: From Chile to Iraq: the new foci of global discontent

The political opposition gave a pulse to Iván Duque to weaken the Government, following the trail of Ecuador and Chile. And for what was appreciated in different cities of the country, with the national strike this Thursday they only managed to show their teeth to a president who has low popularity rates and little margin of governance. They failed to take to the streets, however, the crowds that protested in Santiago de Chile against Sebastián Piñera. The Colombian protesters, in figures that will be known on Friday, shouted their rejection to the Government in a day in which there were only counted violent altercations, starring hooded , until the closing of this edition.

But it was not a national strike to use nor is it feasible to measure the level of monitoring of the private sector in the nation and, even less, in Bogotá. The organizers decided to begin the demonstration towards the Plaza de Simón Bolívar, in the heart of the capital, starting from about thirty points from the early hours of the morning, which left the city almost deserted.

Companies and businesses that sought to work could not do so because of the impossibility of mobilization and fear of vandalism. And since before the sun rose, small groups cut main roads and the riot police had to intervene to clear them.

In addition to unions, university students, social and political movements, characters such as singer Carlos Vives , a moderate man who never intervenes in politics, the new Miss Colombia, or the Uriel commander of the ELN, belonging to one of the most kidnapping Blocks of the terrorist band , called to join a protest as unique as varied, but of great political background.

Many common people, such as groups of football team fans with their shirts, truckers, SME owners, nurses, retirees, just wanted to express their disagreement with the daily problems they face and the hurtful social inequality of both Colombia and its neighbors of Latinamerica.

"The political scope that is wanted to give to the protest is equal to what has happened in other countries of Latin America, to weaken the Government," Oscar Iván Zuluaga, former presidential candidate for the official Democratic Center, told EL MUNDO.es . "But it is very difficult to identify what you want with the march."

Deportations and military deployment

To avoid the savagery that Chile experienced and that the Government partly blames an orchestrated plan from the Chavista Venezuela, the national police carried out a series of raids in search of explosives and infiltrates, Migration Colombia deported a dozen foreigners, Duque closed during 48 hours twelve land border crossings , reinforced with soldiers buildings and strategic sites, and the convenors of the strike asked everyone to repudiate the violent. On the other hand, countless shops covered the windows with wood, and some car dealers removed the exhibition vehicles.

At the same time, the President starred in an intensive campaign for several days to counteract the original reasons for a strike to which countless motives were added. Initially and until they admitted that they did not exist, they had as main objective to demand the withdrawal of the labor reform and that of pensions , especially raising the retirement age, which is currently 57 years for women and 62 for men .

Others repudiated the murder of social leaders, corruption, rejected tax reform, the impositions of the OECD and the IMF, the sale of state-owned companies, the breach of peace agreements, excessive fiscal pressure on SMEs, called for the disappearance of ESMAD (riot control) and a long etcetera in which it is possible to include supposed governmental measures, mostly false, that spread social networks.

"It is an exercise of freedom but I think it is unjustified, there is no valid reason to protest, what there is is a political use behind the strike," Carlos Alberto Londoño , president of Popsy Ice Cream, tells local newspaper 45 cities of Colombia. "It makes no sense to take such a risk after what we have seen in neighboring countries. The order we gave is to work as many hours as possible and who can. We have to patriotically assume the risk that the branches that are in the street and they are going to be vandalized. But it would be a fatal sign that we folded to unemployment by closing. "

On the street, however, they thought there are plenty of reasons. "We have a company of 25 employees, we pay very high taxes and the corrupt all steal it. We march so that the Government finds out that we are tired of paying for anything," José Luis and Marcela commented to this newspaper, who preferred to omit their last name . They walked alongside officials of the Military University, who were participating for the first time in a strike.

Despite the range of demands and the complexity of addressing them, José Manuel Acevedo, deputy director of the RCN chain and political analyst, believes that "the president should face the challenge of unemployment by calling new generations like his own, to think about things that join us. You have to make adjustments in the Cabinet and send a powerful political signal. "

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  • Chile
  • Ecuador
  • Sebastian Piñera
  • Venezuela
  • OECD
  • IMF
  • Bolivia

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