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COLOMBIA-POLITICS-PROTEST
Duque promises social reforms as three dead in Colombia protests
BOGOTA, Nov 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Colombian President Ivan Duque on Friday
promised a “national conversation” on social policies, one day after massive
demonstrations against his right-wing government left three dead and dozens
wounded.
“Starting next week, I will launch a national conversation to strengthen
the current social policy agenda, working in a united way with medium- and
long-term vision, which will allow us to close the social gaps,” he said in a
televised speech.
“This conversation will take place regionally with all the social and
political sectors. I will use electronic media and participatory
mechanisms… so that we can all build a meaningful path of reform.”
The popularity of Duque’s right-wing government — a key ally of the United
States — has been on the wane since his election 18 months ago, as it deals
with hosting 1.4 million refugees from neighboring Venezuela’s economic
meltdown as well as the complex fallout of a 2016 peace deal with FARC rebels
and rampant drug trafficking.
Hundreds of thousands of Colombians took to the streets in Bogota and other
cities on Thursday to protest Duque’s economic, social and security policies,
as part of a nationwide general strike.
There were arrests and clashes as trade unions, students, opposition
parties and the South American country’s indigenous organizations vented
their anger.
Duque’s statement Friday came shortly after Bogota Mayor Enrique Penalosa
declared a nighttime curfew in the capital, following clashes between
protesters and police in the southern part of the city of seven million
earlier in the day.
The president said he was stepping up the police presence and ordering the
“deployment of joint patrols of police and army in the most critical places.”
Earlier Friday, hundreds of demonstrators were protesting in cities across
the country, banging pots and pans in a form of protest that is common in
parts of Latin America, though not in Colombia.
The three deaths had taken place during protests Thursday in the western
Valle del Cauca department, Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo told
reporters.
There were also 122 civilians wounded, 151 security forces hurt and 146
people detained, the government said.
The protests come amid social upheaval across South America, as a wave of
unrest over the past two months has battered governments in Chile, Bolivia
and Ecuador.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0837 hrs