Colombia: Banana workers still opposing Duqueâs tax reform
Over the past month, Colombia was in turmoil due to widespread protests over proposed tax reforms by President Iván Duqueâs government. These would have increased taxes on low and middle income groups. The protests
have been met with violent repression, leaving at least eight dead and thousands injured. Despite the government withdrawing its tax plans last week, the protests are continuing.
Francisco Maltes, president of the Central Union of Workers (CUT), said: âProtesters are demanding much more than the withdrawal of the tax reform.â
According to bananalink.org.uk, unions are calling for a withdrawal of a proposed health reform and a guaranteed basic income of one million pesos ($260) for all Colombians, as well as the demilitarization of cities, an end to the ongoing police violence and the dismantling of heavy-handed riot police.
Colombia government, strike committee meet again amid protests as confirmed deaths rise 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.
Road blockades connected to weeks of anti-government protests in Colombia, which have caused food and gasoline shortages and stymied exports, are still in place around the country on Thursday despite a recent presidential order to clear them. The government says cutting off people from freedom of movement is a crime. President Ivan Duque earlier this week ordered security forces to move blockades, but the national police said as of noon there were 62 protests taking place and still 43 blockades erected in 17 of Colombia's 32 provinces.
Dozens of Colombian roads still blocked amid anti-government 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.
30 April 2021: Flames rise from a burning barricade behind a riot police officer during confrontations after a protest in Cali, Colombia, against neoliberal reforms and growing poverty. (Photograph by Luis Robayo/ AFP)
Colombian security forces have killed more than 40 people since recent protests began on 28 April, according to
Temblores, a Colombian non-governmental organisation (NGO) that documents state violence. Along with countless cases of torture and sexual assault, around 500 people remain missing since the protests began and could have been “disappeared”, a reality all too familiar to Colombians.
The actual number of deaths is likely higher as chaos and uncertainty unfolded during the continuing general strike, with President Iván Duque threatening to declare martial law if the protests continue. The military was deployed onto the streets of major cities across the country and distressing videos of police brutality continue to flood social media.