Colombia s Duque meeting with opponents, hoping to calm deadly protests Reuters 1 day ago
By Luis Jaime Acosta
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia s President Ivan Duque has begun meetings with civil society groups and political opponents who want action taken on poverty and unemployment and an end to police violence, in an effort to calm protests after more than 20 deaths.
Demonstrations in the Andean country began last week in opposition to a now-canceled tax reform which would have raised sales taxes. They have expanded to include other demands, including for a basic income and withdrawal of an already long-debated health reform that opponents say is too vague to correct inequalities.
Colombia s Duque more optimistic than critics after meeting to calm protests reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Massacre of protesters and economic crisis push Colombia workers to strike May 6, 2021 10:51 AM CDT By Combined Sources
A police officer fires tear gas at protesters in Cali, Colombia, May 3. By evening, police in the city escalated to using bullets, killing an unknown number of demonstrators. | Andres Gonzalez / AP
Colombia is in the midst of another general strike, with unions saying the government has failed to listen to demands for emergency measures to deal with rising poverty and hunger. Monday night’s massacre of protesters by police in the city of Cali have further enraged the democratic and people’s movements in the country and garnered the government international condemnation.
COLOMBIA is set for another general strike tomorrow, with unions saying that the government has failed to listen to demands for emergency measures to deal with rising poverty and hunger.
The action was called by the Central Union of Workers (CUT). The trade union federation also demanded that the streets be demilitarised after 19 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in anti-government protests over the past week.
CUT president Francisco Maltes called on all Colombians to “maintain and increase the mobilisations” despite right-wing President Ivan Duque’s agreement to withdraw a tax reform package that would have disproportionately hit the poorest people.
Latin America calls for economic recovery on a restricted Labor Day 2 minutes read
International Desk, May 1 (EFE).- The countries of Latin America commemorated International Labor Day on Saturday with restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic but with firm claims of a speedy economic recovery.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Latin America in March 2020, the region has lowered its gross domestic product to 2010 levels, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
In addition, 57 percent of employment is precarious and poverty has returned to the levels of 15 years ago, according to the secretary general of the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) for Education, Science and Culture, Mariano Jabonero, in a recent interview with Efe.