Nationwide Protests Rage Against Colombia’s Economic Policies
Nationwide Protests Rage Against Colombia’s Economic Policies
Tuesday, 03 September 2013 10:37
By Constanza Vieira and Helda Martínez, IPS News | News Analysis
BOGOTA - A strike declared nearly two weeks ago in Colombia by farmers and joined later by truck drivers, health workers, miners and students spread to include protests in the cities before mushrooming into a general strike Thursday, demanding changes in the government’s economic policies.
The protests ballooned after clashes with the ESMAD anti-riot police left at least two rural protesters dead and over 250 under arrest.
Also fuelling the unrest, say analysts, was the attempt by President Juan Manuel Santos to minimise the strikers’ actions. He said on Sunday Aug. 25 that “the so-called national agrarian strike does not exist.”
The authorities, meanwhile, allege that the nationwide roadblocks and protests have been connected to the country’s left-wing guerrillas.
More:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/18563-nationwide-protests-rage-against-colombias-economic-policies