May 12, 2021
BOGOTA (AFP) – Faced with angry street protests and international criticism over his security forces’ response, Colombia President Ivan Duque is coming across as erratic and out of touch with a country in crisis, analysts said.
Since April 28, hundreds of thousands of people have vented their frustrations against the government after poverty and violence soared during the pandemic.
The trigger was a proposed tax reform that has since been withdrawn.
It’s not the first time Duque, 44, has faced social unrest against his presidency. In 2019, an unexpected student movement served as a warning.
After decades of stigmatisation against social protests, often associated with left-wing rebellions, young people who did not live through the darkest days of Colombia’s more than half century of armed conflict with Marxist guerrillas, have no qualms about demanding better living conditions.