La Minga has already arrived in Bogotá: this Monday there could be a meeting with the Government

The Indigenous Minga arrived in Bogotá around noon on October 18, in contrast to the initial plans on October 15, when they left the city of Cali to move to the capital and demand that President Iván Duque listen to their requests during a debate. public. The reason: they planned to stay tonight in Soacha, but the mayor of the municipality, Juan Carlos Saldarriaga, stated that he did not have the resources to house them.

Despite Saldarriaga’s “invitation to go to the capital omitting their stop here”, the Minga met with the Mothers of False Positives of Soacha and social organizations of the municipality.

Around noon, as said by Darío Tote, spokesman for the Cauca Regional Indigenous Council (CRIC), they took their way along the South highway and then, along Carrera 30 to go to the Palacio de los Deportes in Bogotá, in the vicinity of the Simón Bolívar park, where they will be housed this week.

The sports complex, planned for up to 7,500 people, It already has tents, sanitary batteries, portable sinks, showers, three tank trucks with drinking water, hospital beds, medical ambulances, medical offices (ancestral and western medicine) and even a space with covid-19 tests, if necessary. and that indigenous communities want to submit to them. This was confirmed by the mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, before the media this morning.

“Here we receive them with all the respect and the organization and dignified logistics for them and according to their customs”, affirmed the president of the city.

The arrival of the Minga in the capital, however, increased tensions between the National Government and the District, because, according to the mayor of Bogotá Claudia López, the Ministry of the Interior, headed by Alicia Arango, did not want to work as jointly with the city to receive the around 5,000 protesters.

“It seemed better to us to receive the minga in agreement with the National Government as a gesture to ease tensions. They did not want. No problem. Bogotá will take care, he will receive them and, as always, will agree with social organizations the guarantees for peaceful mobilization “, the mayor published in her account in Twitter.

In response to the mayor, who also questioned President Iván Duque for not attending Cali to talk with the Minga, instead of having it move to Bogotá, Diego Molano, director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency, replied that López is looking for him it is to evade its responsibility when the protesters arrive in the capital. This was stated for EL TIEMPO this Sunday, in an interview conducted by Yamid Amat.

“I correct the mayor once more: the Duque government has met with the minga since 2019 and we did comply with more than 80 percent of the commitments. Perhaps due to her days off, the mayor did not find out that the half of the cabinet of the National Government to continue the dialogue and show results. Hopefully your comment is not again to evade the responsibility of sanitary control that you must activate in the face of crowds, because, as she says, “The math of the covid does not fail,” said Molano.

Today, prior to the arrival of the Minga, the mayor again took the opportunity to invite the Government to listen to the citizens and the Minga.

“With all due respect, I invite the National Government to solve the conflicts it has with the citizens and with La Minga. Colombia needs fundamental solutions so that life is respected, ”said the mayor, adding that she does not understand how the Democratic Center stigmatizes the social mobilization of those who demand the right to life, even when “Promoted protests for the freedom of a convict.”

‘Coexistence managers will accompany the Minga, not ESMAD’

Last night Caracol Radio headlined in one of its news: “Esmad will accompany La Minga so that the Police can make a presence in neighborhoods”, a fact that generated reactions in some political sectors, especially in social networks and in front of which the senator Gustavo Petro spoke.

“This is the height of opportunism. Send the Esmad to the minga and present it in good manners. Esmad is only the last option and is used when violence breaks out. The minga is peaceful ”, was what the senator said Twitter.

However, the mayor denied what was said by the media and affirmed that the minga, like all social demonstrations, will be accompanied by the coexistence managers and not the ESMAD. He did it on Twitter and ratified it during the press conference at the Palacio de los Deportes.

“For ESMAD to accompany them would be disrespectful, as well as unnecessary. It is false that he will accompany them. The Minga will be accompanied by the Indigenous Guard and the coexistence managers of the District, ”said Claudia López.

Ombudsman will mediate for a possible meeting between Minga and the Government

After this Thursday, October 15, the indigenous minga began its journey to the Colombian capital, the Ombudsman’s Office offered to advocate for “spaces for encounter” between the President of the Republic and the representatives of the social indigenous minga.

This management was advanced on October 17, when the Ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, met with the leaders of the indigenous minga in Fusagasugá, Cundinamarca, to find an alternative for dialogue with the National Government.

This Sunday the indigenous minga arrived in Bogotá in order to dialogue with the Government of Iván Duque, meanwhile, the high commissioner for peace, Miguel Ceballos, announced that he met in the morning with the ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, the interior minister, Alicia Arango, and the health minister, Fernando Ruiz, to know what is the message that the minga wants to express and establish possible channels of dialogue.

From this Sunday’s meeting, Ceballos reported that the Government remains in a position for dialogue: “The National Government reiterates that it has been and will continue to be respectful of an open dialogue and a constructive dialogue.”

In addition, the official asked for information on the results of the thousand Covid-19 tests what the Ministry of Health did to the members of the minga:

“That the minga and its organizers tell the country about the health status of those who participate in it. We want to know if the thousand tests that the Ministry of Health provided to the minga were carried out and what was their result ”, demanded Ceballos.

On the other hand, he stressed the importance of prudence and good sense, as well as made a call so that the use of the roads in fact is not reached during the demonstration.

“No to the tracks actually. The most important thing is that the mobilization is carried out in a peaceful manner, ”emphasized the high commissioner for peace.

Similarly Ceballos did not close the doors for a possible meeting between the Government and the minga, but respecting the conditions of the pandemic.

“The National Government respects and will respect peaceful dialogue and respectful dialogue with the Constitution and the law,” said the Commissioner.