Photo: Daniel Eduardo Rojas Sánchez
As protests continue on the streets of Colombian cities against the social and economic agenda of the government of President Iván Duque, some ending in violent confrontations with the state’s security forces, and which have resulted in 42 civilian deaths (according to the Office of the Ombudsman â DefensorÃa del Pueblo), an equally aggressive battle has been waging on social networks, with Twitter the lead protagonist.
While support for the National Strike (Paro Nacional) aims to discredit the national government on all matters of public policy, and at a moment in which the third wave of the pandemic has pushed the country’s hospital capacity to the brink of disaster, collective hysteria, intimidation, and fearmongering run rampant in cyberspace long after peaceful protests end. To get a grasp of debased social media one has to look no further than across the border to Venezuela and Maduro’s second-in-command Diosdado Cabello.