Juan Diego García, La Pluma, 17/6/2021
Translation by Michael Otto.
The author is a Colombian political analyst living in Spain.
Iván Duque, the Colombian president, has confronted the current protest movement with the same methods used by previous rulers of this Andean country, albeit with less intelligence, bringing him more defeats than victories.
It is traditional in Colombia that when confronting social and political opposition movements, the authorities typically engage in dragged out and useless negotiations (and what they agree to, they never fulfill). At the same time, the police and military, backed up by paramilitary groups, employ brutal and murderous repression in obedience to a systematic extermination plan.
Apparently, the government has no plan beyond the traditional one, resulting in an impressive plunge in support, according to various polls that measure popular opinion. Duque has had to accept the resignation of several high-ranking officials (including two ministers) and has been unable to cover up dramatic scenes exposing government repression -- leaving his crimes exposed before national and international opinion.
Of so-called Colombian democracy, only a memory remains. In spite of the official version that insists on presenting this country as “the oldest democracy on the continent,” the harsh repression shows Colombia looking more like a dictatorial regime and, for many, like a colonial form of fascism.
