Despite the militarization, inhabitants of the cities of Bogota, Catatumbo, Cartagena, Ibague, Medellin, and even Cali expressed their rejection of the neoliberal policies of the current administration for harming the majority of the population.

The participants displayed posters, banners, and made their peaceful clamor through music, painting and other artistic expressions by virtue of the nature of the protests.

According to the Committee, the strike arose from the desperation caused by poverty and the State’s neglect of the Colombian population.

‘While hunger became a tragic routine with the symbol of the red rag hanging on the doors and windows of thousands of homes, the government’s response was to increase its expenses and look the other way,’ the rally’s organizers assured.

They added that misery and the social gaps that had been prevailing before the pandemic, worsened and showed their full intensity in the midst of a government that grew its military spending.

The figures of such infamy were already exposed by the National Administrative Department of Statistics: over seven million people only eat twice a day and over 500,000 Colombians eat only once, they underscored.

rly/omr/oda/otf