Colombia’s Duque says 65 cases of alleged police abuse in marches are under investigation

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Colombian President Ivan Duque said Tuesday, May 11, that authorities have initiated 65 disciplinary actions, including eight for homicide, for police violence during protests that completed 14 days in the country and in which Cali (southwest) is the most affected city.

“Sixty-five disciplinary actions have been taken, 27 for abuse of authority, 11 for physical aggression, 8 for homicide, 19 for other conducts,” said the head of state during his visit to Cali, where he met with authorities and members of the local community.

International organizations such as the UN, the European Union (EU), governments, and protesters have asked the Duque government to take action against police violence, punish those guilty of it, and guarantee the right to peaceful protest.

The Ombudsman’s Office reported today that it had received reports that 41 people have died in the 14 days of the strike.

Although with less intensity than the previous 13 days, the marches continued this Tuesday; the unions and organizations behind the organization of the April 28 strike called again for a day of strike for this Wednesday.

Duque, who today for the second time visited Cali – the epicenter of the protests in Colombia against the Government – said that the Attorney General’s Office is carrying out 10 investigations and the Prosecutor General’s Office 20, while the Military Criminal Justice is in charge of six “so that there is no doubt that the highest standard is always sought in more than 5,000 interventions”.

In addition, he said that “667 people have been captured (arrested) for acts of vandalism, 20 by court order and 647 when found in flagrante delicto”.

FREE TUITION FOR NEXT SEMESTER

On the other hand, Duque also announced in Cali that students of public universities and technical and technological institutions would not have to pay tuition for the second semester of this year.

“Together with the Ministry of Finance, we have made a reallocation of budgetary efficiency to guarantee that in this second semester of the year 2021 we will have free public, university, technical and technological education” for the poorest students.

According to the Colombian President, the measure will allow 97% of the students of public universities, technical and technological institutions to have “their tuition covered”.

One of the most heartfelt demands of the demonstrators is that the government should guarantee “zero tuition” for public universities.

“We know that the pandemic has brought many negative effects on the income of families and, therefore, many families expressed the need to be able to have a mechanism to help cover the costs of education and public technical and technological education for our young people,” added Duque, who explained that for the moment this measure would apply only for the second semester of this year. He added, however, that work is being done to make it a state policy as of 2022.