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The outrage over the murder of Javier Ordóñez in custody in a CAI triggered riots, vandalism, deaths and more cases of police abuse.
On September 9, indignation and uncertainty framed the dawn in the Villa Luz neighborhood, in Engativá, and in general throughout the country. A video broadcast on social networks revealed a clear case of official brutality. In it you could see two uniformed men climbing on citizen Javier Ordóñez applying electric shocks before handcuffing him. Neither the claims of the witnesses nor the pleas of the detainee reduced the impetus of the agents, who took him alive to the CAI of the sector. Moments later Ordóñez died in police custody.
Rage over crime, a product of the disproportionate use of force, grew rapidly in social networks and then spread to an entire citizenry. “Murderous policemen” was the verdict of the majority, without waiting for the pronouncement of a judge. Excuses, explanations and promises to investigate until the last consequences were of little use. The sentiment led that day, in a matter of hours, the streets began to fill with protesters.
The first flame, from the great fire that occurred that day in the city, began in the vicinity of the site where the crime occurred and the CAI where Ordóñez spent the last minutes of his life. At 4:00 in the afternoon, Villa Luz seemed like a battlefield: roars, alarms, sirens and police tanks rang through the blocks of the neighborhood, confronting those who were dedicated to throwing stones at the station and the Esmad agents, who were trying to protect the uniformed and the facilities.
From then on, the flame spread with new protests in almost every locality. At many points they became violent, when the mobs not only made the police retreat, but also set fire to the CAIs in their neighborhoods. The city seemed at war and especially when seeing the images of members of the Police responding with more violence than reason. It was a night of terror in Bogotá.
The distress was not only experienced in the streets, but also in the houses of those who resided near the sites of the riots. They were afraid of being the next to hear the stun bombs within two meters, to be hit by tear gas or a bullet to sneak through the window.
The fear increased around 8:00 at night. At that time dozens of videos were already circulating on networks showing CAI in flames, groups of citizens attacking policemen already in uniform, attacking and shooting at the population. The worst was expected.
So it was. The first deaths and injuries began to be confirmed, many by firearms. There were more critical points than others: the town of Usaquén, for example, was one of them and especially the Verbenal neighborhood, where at least three people – one of them a minor – died in the protests. The tragic balance, in the end, was 12 deaths and at least 521 injured people, of these 261 policemen.
Added to this panorama of terror, structurally, several parts of the city suffered damage. In the case of the Villa Luz neighborhood, and precisely the 77A race, where it all began, the facades were destroyed, with broken glass, the road full of stones, tree branches on the floor, incinerated garbage containers, remains of the bombs stun guns and SITP whereabouts on the floor. The image was almost the same in various parts of the city.
After 10 o’clock at night was the first moment of the day when silence returned, but it was clear that the demonstration did not end. The following day they were reactivated and Bogotá was once again the scene of a pitched battle. The final balance, with deaths and injuries, was complemented by 35 CAI burned, 37 vandalized, 252 public service buses destroyed and 15 burned.
Although the restoration of the Police stations and the CAIs is about to be completed, there is something that was broken and until today has not been repaired: the confidence in the Public Force by the citizens, which was so undermined that even the idea of an institutional reform was taken up again.
The investigations against the uniformed men involved in the death of Javier Ordóñez are progressing, as well as the one that seeks to establish those responsible for the deaths during the protests. The videos that are still on the internet give an idea of what happened. However, behind what the city experienced on that day there are still many questions to be resolved and tasks to be completed. The first, and perhaps most important, will be to restore the tranquility and confidence that were lost on that night of terror.
