At least 42 people have been killed in near-daily protests against the Colombian government since April 28, the country’s human rights ombudsman said on Tuesday.
All but one — a member of the armed forces — were civilians, the ombudsman’s office said.
The updated toll makes these the bloodiest demonstrations since Colombia signed a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group in 2016, ending decades of civil war.
Photo: AFP
It is lower than the 47 deaths reported by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who claim at least 39 were the direct result of “police violence.”
The Colombian Ministry of National Defense has reported 849 police officers injured in clashes — 12 by gunfire — and has not updated the number of civilians wounded since Monday last week, when it stood at 306.
Colombian President Ivan Duque on Tuesday said that the security forces had acted with “absolute obedience to the constitution” and that any “violations due to individual conduct” would be investigated.
Student leader Jennifer Pedraza accused Duque’s government of being “complacent about the excessive use of public force,” and joined a call for fresh protests yesterday.
The protests, initially against a proposed tax reform, soon morphed into a broader demonstration of anti-government sentiment in a country battling ongoing violence and economic hardship made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tax reform bill has since been withdrawn, but the protests have continued despite a forceful response criticized by the international community.
Two protesters who sustained critical injuries during clashes have died in hospital, their families and NGOs announced on Tuesday.
In a Twitter post, Duque expressed sympathy after the death of Lucas Villa, 37, who was shot several times during a peaceful march in Pereira, western Colombia.
The other was 20-year-old Alejandro Zapata, who an NGO said was gravely injured by riot police during a demonstration in Bogota.
The police on Monday announced that five officers had been suspended and another 62 were under investigation.
The UN, the EU and Organization of American States, including the US, have denounced the excessive use of force by law enforcement agencies during the demonstrations.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of