“Why do you call me a paramilitary?”: A tense meeting between President Duque and protesters in Bolivia

President Iván Duque arrived in La Paz on Saturday, November 7, after leading the dialogue on economic reactivation of the Commitment to Colombia in Montería. The schedule of activities in Bolivia began early this Sunday. One of the objectives of the meeting with the new Bolivian president is to promote the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), which Colombia has presided pro tempore since July.

During your visit, a tense scene took place in La Paz, when the president was leaving an official building. Among the cameras that followed him, a group of at least five people had the opportunity to exchange a few words with President Duque, who was open to a short dialogue.

You can hear that they are talking about the murder of social leaders, to which Duque replies “they are being killed by the dissidents.” However, when he was walking away among the group of bodyguards and journalists, the protesters began to shout. One of them said “The peace process is important”, while in chorus the others shouted “Paramilitary, paramilitary!”

The president, although he was several meters ahead, returned with his entire entourage of bodyguards to refute those accusations face to face with his opponents.

“Why do you call me a paramilitary if I am not?” He asked a man holding a camera several times. In the exchange, it is not possible to hear the response of the protester, but another does shout “it is an unjust government, we have more than 700 murdered leaders.”

President Duque, to conclude, says to the man “Shall I tell you something? The same posters of the dissidents are killing them ”.

Coincidentally, this week the Colombian journalist from Univisión Ilia Calderón also He sent a similar message to President Duque, in the middle of the transmission. He did it during the coverage of the United States elections, when he read the recognition of the Colombian president to Joe Biden.

The visit to Bolivia

One of the objectives of the visit is to strengthen and revitalize the integration bloc, also formed by Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, the Andean Environmental Charter stands out, which establishes the axes to combat climate change and protect the ecosystems of the region. This Letter was presented on September 1 at the 20th Extraordinary Meeting of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers. That same day, Colombia announced, on behalf of the Andean Community, a contribution to the Pan American Health Organization for 500 thousand dollars, to contribute to access to vaccines and supplies against covid-19.

In addition, the Colombian president travels accompanied by the Chief of Cabinet, María Paula Correa, and the Ministers of Foreign Relations, Claudia Blum, and of Environment and Sustainable Development, Carlos Eduardo Correa; the Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, Adriana Mejía, and the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Laura Valdivieso.

At this time, President Iván Duque is meeting with King Felipe VI of Spain to establish new multilateral strategies to help face the health emergency, mobilize Spanish investment to Colombia and achieve more access of national products to Spain. He also assured that an important economic contribution from Spain will materialize to address the situation of migrants in border areas. In addition, it has already examined bilateral relations and regional integration with the Paraguayan head of state, Mario Abdo Benítez.

President Iván Duque announced, through his Twitter account, that the meeting with the President of the Argentine Republic, Alberto Fernández, allowed, in common agreement, to increase trade between the two countries.

Iván Duque will travel this afternoon to Chile where he will hold a meeting with his counterpart Sebastián Piñera, to prepare the delivery of the presidency of the Pacific Alliance, which will be delivered by the Chileans to Colombia in next December and will last one year. They will also talk about the measures that have been taken in the countries to face the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, the economic reactivation and epidemiological situations in the region and the management to find a vaccine within the alliance in the Covax mechanism will be inspected. Also, they will discuss the opportunities for exchange and economic growth in the region.

Pacific Alliance is an economic and commercial integration mechanism made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. It establishes the free movement of goods, services, people and capital between nations under the precept of cooperation. It was established in 2011 and entered into force in June 2015, but its commercial protocol formally began on May 1, 2016.

Too, the Chilean president will hand over the pro tempore presidency of Prosur to Colombia next month. This international body, created in 2019, was proposed by the presidents of Colombia and Chile with the aim of strengthening integration in South America. On January 14, 2019, President Iván Duque, during the announcement of the Forum for the Progress of South America (Prosur), declared that the coordination of public policies in favor of democracy, the independence of powers and the market economy.

On the other hand, environmental issues such as the PreCOP on biodiversity, a meeting prior to COP15, which will be held in Colombia in 2021; COP26 on climate change; the Amazon Pact (signed last year by seven countries, including Bolivia), the protection of the oceans and the use of plastics are key issues on the president’s agenda.

President Iván Duque will return to Bogotá on Sunday, November 8 at night.