Why the death of a lawyer generated an unprecedented wave of violence in Colombia

A third of the 156 Immediate Attention Commands in Bogotá have been set on fire and destroyed in protests in the Colombian capital in recent days.

It was in one of these police units, spread throughout the city in order to provide rapid and focused responses to events in certain areas, where, according to witnesses and forensic doctors, Javier Ordóñez, a 45-year-old lawyer, suffered nine skull fractures before To die. shortly after in a hospital.

Known among Colombians as CAI, these police stations were created when Bogotá was one of the most dangerous cities in the world, in 1987, with the aim of monitoring certain jurisdictions and, according to the mayor, “to strengthen ties between the police and the community. “. “.

Experts heard by BBC News Mundo, the BBC’s Spanish service, say that what happened was the opposite: in the perception of Bogota citizens, especially young people, CAIs are the focus of abuse, corruption and drug trafficking.

Thus, when the Ordóñez case was denounced, the indignation of the local population turned against the figure of the CAI, especially after the appearance of versions that said that the man had been tortured and the dissemination of a video in which abuses had occurred. by policemen.

Even during the 2019 protests, which became known as the National Strike, in which four people died, the protests did not unleash so much violence or the response from the authorities was so repressive.

On this occasion, the police began to use firearms, something unheard of in recent decades, and even came to ally with masked civilians to pursue the youths who had set fire to the units.

At least 14 people were killed in the clashes, mostly young people injured by firearms. Hundreds of citizens and policemen were injured.

The city’s mayor, Claudia López, said on Friday (11/9) that she gave the government an hour and a half of video of “uniformed police officers and alleged plainclothes officers” clearly seen firing indiscriminately. She said she had 119 reports of attacks on it.

What the authorities say

The Police and the government of President Iván Duque announced reforms to prevent abuse, apologized for the Ordóñez case and said that thanks to the “zero tolerance” policy currently in force there are 1,924 open disciplinary proceedings and sanctions have been applied to 276 employees for abuse of strength. the last 18 months.

Regarding the use of firearms in demonstrations against civilians, authorities say they will investigate and reiterate their rejection of violence.

“Police officers can only use a firearm if they are attacked with a proportional weapon,” said the city’s security secretary, Hugo Acero.

“As seen in the shared videos, they are breaking the law,” he added. Last Wednesday (9/9), the mayor of Bogotá had ordered the police forces not to use firearms.

A police intelligence report leaked to local media indicates that the attacks were allegedly the result of an operation organized by “subversive groups of the urban left.”

While there is still no official version of what is happening, looking at the police structure, and more particularly the CAIs, helps to understand what appears to be the most violent day of protests in Bogotá’s recent history.

Mistrust relationship

“To explain what happened to the police, it is necessary to explain what happens to the people, because on the 9th there was a spontaneous explosion on both sides,” says Mauricio Albarracín, deputy director of the human rights NGO Dejusticia.

“People were saying, ‘We can’t take it anymore,'” he says, referring to the situation caused by the economic situation, education and security behind the protests.

It is likely, therefore, that the police have also reached a limit.

“The police feel that the city has put them in a situation of friction with the population since the start of the pandemic; they have overloaded us with tasks such as complying with epidemiological cordons or imposing fines on those who violated the rules of social distance” he points out. Jorge Mantilla, a security specialist who worked in the municipal service for five years.

In addition, since the retirement of civil servants with 20 years of service was approved in 2018, there has been a flight of employees that has reduced the number of employees in Bogotá from 20,000 to 16,500, according to official data. The recruitment criteria were relaxed and the training period shortened.

The police officers who confronted the youth on Wednesday, then, may be the same age as the protesters, as well as having the same problems paying bills and accessing education and health systems.

“They (the police) suffered increased pressure and wear during the pandemic. They had to work more with less, because 20% of the city’s police officers were in social isolation almost all the time,” says Acero, from the mayor’s office. .

According to an official of the corporation, “the police feel abandoned and, faced with this abandonment, make decisions that are not in accordance with human rights.” He spoke to the report on condition of anonymity.

The events on Wednesday did not have the presence of the Esmad riot squad, but rather specialized patrols for the control and repression of criminals.

“It is the first time that the police have been the target of an attack and, given the disagreement between official decisions and what happens in the street, expressions of vigilantism may have arisen, which are death squads, judges or even paramilitaries”, He says. Mantilla.

The “CAIs”, he concludes, “generate a relationship of familiarity between the police and the bandits, let’s say, and since there is little turnover between them, the police begin to extort and resell drugs and this increases legal cynicism, which is a feeling of that CAI, instead of providing security, is a threat (to the population) “.

While the police feel abandoned and exhausted, the youth of Bogotá view the CAIs as a source of crime and repression. A difference of points of view that can only have one result: violence.

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