Massive Nationwide Strike in Colombia
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A diverse collection of groups went on strike throughout Colombia beginning on August 19, 2013 including coffee, dairy, and potato farmers from various departments, truckers, university teachers and students, health care workers, rice growers, sugar cane cutters, and miners. Echoing protests in Brazil in June, and continuing actions by farmers who blocked Colombia’s main roads for almost two weeks in March, they have carried out the largest anti-government demonstration in recent years. Farmers called for the repeal of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed with the United States and the European Union, and for agricultural subsidies for small farmers, not just big agro business.
Colombia Reports of Medellín took a stab at explaining “who in Colombia is striking against the government and why?” Health workers struck against recent health sector reforms passed by Congress. “We have exhausted dialogue” and will try another route to make the government “hear our demands and aspirations,” said Héctor Gaviria Alviz, President of the National Trade
Union of Public Health Workers (ANTHOC). He insisted that they want to remove “profit” from the equation “and ensure that services be provided directly by public hospitals and municipal authorities” instead of by “corruption-ridden health care providers that fail to pay hospitals on time.” Coffee farmers were striking because the government had failed to come up with the subsidies promised in March to compensate for falling international coffee prices. Truckers were striking against high gasoline prices. In February the government raised the price of fuel by 6%. University teachers were striking over the government’s failure to honor agreements made after earlier strikes this year. Education union FECODE Secretary General Rafael Cuello blamed the Minister of Education, saying “the spirit of what was agreed to hasn’t come to fruition.” Miners had already been striking since July 17, demanding the repeal of a decree that ordered the destruction of machinery used in informal operations, now classified as “illegal mining.” Stella Luz Ramírez, executive director of the Confederation of Colombian miners justified the strike, stating “the national government has failed us twice. On July 25 last year we agreed not to strike because the government pledged to improve conditions in the sector, but they once again broke their word. This time, we will not yield.” Rice growers were striking since the government had failed to answer their repeated complaints and address their “four point plan” for how to bring the sector out of its current crisis. Sugar cane cutters wanted to be directly hired by the companies they work for. Finally, many of Putumayo’s peasants grow coca because it is their only means of economic income. Without adequate alternative development plans in place, the destruction of coca crops in the region leaves the peasants with no viable options.
El Espectador of Bogotá provided extensive daily coverage, beginning with an editorial on August 17. They argued that “it’s obvious that this social protest has a history grounded in feelings of abandonment.” They predicted that “the strike will be massive, yes, but also compartmentalized” with different groups pursuing different agendas. But given the “malaise” of unemployment, they insisted that “the government does not have the luxury of dealing with the strikers case by case.” They also pointed to the “disconnect” between the government of Juan Manuel Santos and much of the country. And they wanted to “make it clear to all players” that “nothing will be solved in a day.” To reach an agreement and fix problems you must “sit down and discuss things.” El Espectador also followed President Santos’ many meetings with representatives of the various striking groups, farmers from the departments of Nariño, Cundinamarca and Boyacá, and his contention that violence during the strike was not the work of the protestors but rather of “infiltrators.” In its pages Edison Sánchez argued that although the abandonment of rural zones has been a story gradually and systematically neglected by many administrations, it has also been fueled by factors ranging from violence to the myopia of Colombia’s urban citizens. Unemployment in the agricultural sector today has become “a rocking horse battle” of fear and anger over free trade policies. And finally, Pascual Gaviria admitted that “the current agricultural strike is seen by many as an awakening of the peasantry because of state neglect,” and that in most of Colombia’s rural zones “basic needs are unsatisfied.” Yet he also noted that free trade cannot be blamed for all problems, and that indeed, its comparative advantages have worked for Peru and Chile, exporting asparagus and mango, and grapes and apples respectively. The Colombian Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a list of 36 products that offer Colombia such comparative advantages for export, including coconut, passion fruit and strawberries, among others.
El Tiempo of Bogotá chronicled the events in Boyacá, the most affected department. Between Tunja and Chiquinquirá, more than 300 farmers kept the road closed from morning to late afternoon, and clashed with the Mobile Riot Police, whose members had to retreat before the attacks of stones, logs, and even gunpowder. Several soldiers were taken to a Tunja hospital. On the Tunja to Bogotá route, there were clashes with police, and protesters punctured the tires of tractor-trailers loaded with iron and cement on a main bridge, creating a traffic jam for miles in both directions. Similar struggles took place in other departments. Also in El Tiempo, Daniel Samper Pizano mused that given the state of the Colombian countryside, “burdened by poverty, violence, injustice, and NAFTA, no one should be surprised by the uprising.” In fact, the real wonder is that it hasn’t happened more and earlier. Urban Colombians certainly notice when the roads are blocked, but they (and the media) soon forget, and go back to business as usual. “Democracy was invented so that people could protest freely and peacefully.” And we applaud when subjugated Arabs, Russian gays, Chilean students, bare-chested girls, and European workers protest. But when “peasants or rather Colombian small agricultural entrepreneurs (who support 9 million people) protest, they are called ‘subversives’.”
Coverage Around the Region was Extensive
PáginaSIETE of La Paz noted that the campesinos extended their strike to 13 departments in Colombia, and had “completely closed” 42 roads with blockages on the 4th day of the strike, and that at least 98 strikers had been arrested so far. La Razón of La Paz also told of the blockages cutting off Colombia from Ecuador and Venezuela. The department of Nariño, had road blocks in five strategic points along the Pan American Highway, including the stretch between Pasto, the provincial capital and the Rumichaca Bridge, which marks the border with Ecuador. And in Boyacá, in the center-east of Colombia and key step toward Venezuela, several roads were blocked, restricting traffic to Venezuela. Últimas Noticias of Caracas chronicled the “rebellion of the ruanas” (a ruana is a Colombian poncho) in the formerly peaceful department of Boyacá, full of bucolic farms producing milk and potatoes. In Ventaquemada , Pedro Farfán, a farmer who grows potatoes explained their anger at the fact that “the government abandoned us.” Other farmers stationed along the road complained of the high prices of fertilizers and fungicides that made up “almost 40% of the production costs.” And trade liberalization meant that “a package of frozen potatoes brought from Holland” costs less than potatoes cultivated and processed in Boyacá “100 kilometers from Bogotá.” And with that “the tranquility of the cold afternoon” was suddenly broken as three SUVs sped by, escorting a convoy of trucks and tractor trailers trying to break the blockade. “Suddenly masked peasants on a hill began to shower stones on the vehicles, forcing them to stop.” Similar scenes played out in Tierranegra and Samacá.
Several papers focused on clashes that broke out in support of the strikes in Bogotá and other cities. The Buenos Aires Herald pointed out that “students wearing balaclavas pelted shop windows with rocks near the capital’s main square and clashed with riot police who fired tear gas to disperse them.” The government imposed a curfew in parts of the city after violence continued into the night. As they protested and waved banners, the students chanted “Long live the farmers’ strike! Food sovereignty!” Protesters donned “typical farmer attire” of ruanas, brimmed hats, and rubber boots “to show their solidarity” as they marched in 15 columns toward the Plaza de Bolívar, where the presidential palace and Congress are located. Similar protests erupted in Medellin, Cali, and other cities across the nation. La Jornada of Mexico City observed that thousands of people participated in marches in the capital and dozens of cities of Colombia in support of the strike of farmers or to make demands of their own. In Bogotá police dispersed protesters with tear gas, as hooded demonstrators threw stones and pieces of bricks. Similar clashes took place in Medellin. President Santos admitted that “the country is going through a storm.” Following the agricultural strike, police said marches around the country held on August 29 saw the participation of some 45,000 people, of which about 28,000 crowded the streets of Bogotá toward the Plaza de Bolívar, the concentration point of the march organized by university students. El Periódico of Guatamala City reported that the greatest disorders occurred in Bogotá, where General Luis Eduardo Martínez, the capital’s police chief, told reporters of clashes between hooded protesters and police in the city center. Fernando José Cárdenas, president of Colombia Red Cross said that at least ten civilians suffered bruises and were affected by tear gas and were taken to hospitals.
El Telégrafo of Guayaquil pointed to questions of police abuse of the agrarian strikers, and the government’s announcement that it would investigate reports that officers had committed excesses against civilians in the protests. Videos circulating on social networks showed protesters being attacked by members of the police, as they faced off at road blocks. One of the videos from Tibabosa, Boyacá showed assaults on a farmer on the roof of a house. Another recording showed a riot squad assaulting the protesters in order to clear a pathway. One of the most talked about videos was from Sogamoso, Boyacá in which an elderly woman showed her bleeding face. El Telégrafo reported three deaths in Boyacá caused by strike activity. One was of a motorcyclist who died after colliding with a wire that protesters had stretched across the roadway. Another man died after being shot in a confrontation with the police. The third victim was a seventy-two-year-old man who suffered from chronic kidney problems and died because the ambulance carrying him from Miraflores to Tunja did not reach its destination. Finally, El Telégrafo also reported that the government accused the FARC of promoting protests in the country.
El Comercio of Lima spotlighted President Juan Santos’ decision to call in the military to secure Bogotá after “riots” left two people dead. “I have made decisions to ensure normality and have ordered the militarization of Bogotá,” Santos said in a speech from the government house. Jorge Rojas, secretary to the mayor of Bogotá, Gustavo Petro, said the president’s announcement does not mean that this city of eight million people is in a state of siege. The military is merely reinforcing the police. The 13th Brigade of the army, with at least 14,400 men, is stationed in Bogotá. General Gabriel Pinilla, their commander, said they are there to reinforce several points in the city. Alpha
La Prensa of La Paz recognized the stress on Santos, who said at one point in a televised address that “patience is exhausted.” El Universal of Mexico City noted his beseeching of the farmers “to not allow outsiders to act violently.” La Tercera of Santiago, as well, noted Santos’ struggle to get control of a situation that was leading to the loss of millions of dollars to the national economy. PanamaAmérica of Panama City and La Nación of San José, Costa Rica highlighted halting movement toward partial agreements after farmers announced the lifting of some blockades. Yet as Ricardo Herrera of the National Agrarian Coordinating Group or CAN (one of the organizations behind the protest) put it, while farmers are deployed in 17 of the 32 departments, “the government is talking only to three departments,” while road closures around Bogotá have hampered arrival of food and other goods to the capital.