Colombia’s left took to the streets on Wednesday against President Abelardo de la Espriella and fared better than expected. Despite doubts about its ability to mobilize people, fears of police repression stoked by the president himself, the threat of rain and the fact that the protest fell on a weekday, thousands of Colombians demonstrated peacefully for hours. The marches, seen in the country’s main cities, were the first test of the ability of a battered left to mobilize the grassroots after losing power to a right-wing outsider allied openly with the United States and who embodies everything that progressives abhor.
Thousands of people took to the streets across Colombia on Wednesday in the first national strike against President Abelardo de la Espriella’s administration, as police used tear gas, rubber bullets and armored vehicles to disperse demonstrators in several cities.
RELATED: Colombia Holds First National Strike Against De la Espriella
Protests spread across more than a dozen departmental capitals and municipalities, including Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, Ibagué, Popayán and Bucaramanga. In Bogotá, four columns of demonstrators converged on Bolívar Square under a security operation monitored by a Unified Command Post.
In Medellín, demonstrations escalated into clashes between protesters and the Mobile Anti-Riot Squadron (ESMAD). Security forces deployed tear gas, rubber bullets and armored vehicles, leading to several arrests. Assaults on members of the press were also reported.
Clashes and serious public disturbances were also recorded in Ibagué and Popayán following police interventions. Human rights organizations, including the NGO Temblores, denounced the presence of armed men carrying rifles on the rooftops of government buildings in Bogotá, describing their deployment as a direct threat to protesters.
The demonstrations brought together trade unions, teachers, university students, Indigenous communities, LGBTQ+ groups and feminist organizations. Opposition figures, including former President Gustavo Petro and Senator Iván Cepeda, also took part.
Protesters called for labor, education and social protections, seeking to preserve measures introduced under the previous administration, including free access to public universities and increases in the minimum wage. They opposed what they described as a neoliberal shift under De la Espriella’s government, citing budget cuts and the administration’s initial economic reforms.
Colombianos:
— Abelardo De La Espriella (@ABDELAESPRIELLA) October 15, 2026
Me dirijo a ustedes esta noche para entregarles un balance claro, objetivo y contundente de la jornada de manifestaciones que vivió hoy nuestro país.
¡Que quede absolutamente claro! El 98% de las movilizaciones transcurrió de manera pacífica.
La inmensa mayoría de… pic.twitter.com/CmllZVPBtu
Text Reads: Colombians: I address you tonight to deliver a clear, objective, and unequivocal report on the day of demonstrations that our country experienced today. Let it be absolutely clear! 98% of the mobilizations took place peacefully. The vast majority of those who took to the streets exercised their legitimate right to protest in an orderly and respectful manner toward the institutions. That is democracy, and as President of the Republic, I will always defend and guarantee it. At the close of this day, the national tally records a total of 62,000 citizens mobilized. A figure that represents a very small proportion of the Colombian population, but whose rights and guarantees deserve the full respect of the State. From the first day of my Government, I have issued a directive that admits no interpretations: peaceful protest is respected, protected, and guaranteed. But violence, vandalism, and any attempt to violate the rights of others will have no place under my mandate. Because as legitimate as the right to demonstrate is the right of millions of Colombians to work, move freely, and live in tranquility. Here there is a State, here there is authority, and here there is a Government that respects freedoms, enforces the law, and protects the millions of Colombians who rise early every day to work and build the Nation. Firm for the Nation! Long live Christ the King! (A.D.L.E.)
Demonstrators also rejected the restoration of diplomatic relations with Israel and what they described as U.S. interference in Colombia’s affairs.
Tensions mounted after the government signed a decree hours before the marches that changes the rules governing police conduct during public demonstrations. De la Espriella defended the measure as necessary to combat “urban terrorism,” while opposition politicians and social organizations condemned it as an attempt to intimidate protesters.
Senator Cepeda warned that the decree risked returning Colombia to a situation in which fear enabled arbitrary actions by security forces.
“They want to take us back to a time when fear becomes the means through which the security forces act arbitrarily,” Cepeda said.
Trade union sources said organizers were already drawing up a schedule of further mobilizations for the coming months following Wednesday’s mass protests. The campaign could culminate in a general strike in November.
The strike unfolded barely two months into the president’s term. Protesters filled the streets of Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Bucaramanga, Pereira and Riohacha in a direct rejection of the government’s economic and security agenda.
The call brought together labor unions, student groups, opposition parties, labor federations and the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC).
RELATED: Colombian President Signs Decree Expanding Police Powers to Disperse Protests
Organizers described the turnout as a condemnation of the government’s economic and security agenda, the rising cost of living, a rise in violence, the rollback of social gains and what they call attempts to criminalize the right to protest.
Demonstrators emphasized the peaceful nature of the protest, pushing back against signals from the presidential palace that seek to delegitimize the demands of civil society.
The trigger was Decree 1525, signed by De la Espriella. The measure sets rules for the conduct of security forces at public gatherings and allows authorities to disperse them in the event of serious disturbances. Local governments responded with a large deployment of police in the main cities.
The opposition read that operation as an attempt to condition the right to demonstrate in advance. The reading sharpened a day that organizers had already framed as an expression of accumulated anger over the cost of living and the dismantling of social programs.
“Protest is the only instrument left to native people and social organizations to be heard and to demand that our rights be respected,” demonstrators said.
Así luce la Plaza de Bolívar en este momento. Por más que la derecha y los medios intenten decir que no se llenó, aquí sigue la ciudadanía después de la lluvia.
— U L D A R I C O (@UldaricoRamire) October 14, 2026
¡Un pueblo lleno de dignidad! pic.twitter.com/GiaMgORgyB
Discontent is not limited to the decree. The mobilized sectors question the entire set of the government’s early decisions, accusing it of dismantling social gains and making daily life more expensive for the majority.
The Colombian Federation of Education Workers (Fecode), the Colombian Federation of Educators, rallied in defense of public education and the health coverage of teachers. The union also demanded the reconstruction of school infrastructure damaged by earlier emergencies, including the earthquake and its aftershocks in the Cauca Valley, and denounced what it calls the stigmatization of teachers’ unionism.
Native and peasant communities rejected the megaprojects and economic measures they say endanger their ancestral territories. The Cauca Indigenous Regional Council (CRIC) warned that the De la Espriella administration is working to break the autonomy of their organizations.
The economic agenda concentrated much of the anger. Rising prices and policies that organizers say erode acquired rights pushed workers from various productive sectors onto the streets. The protests now carry the weight of a first major social test for the national government, only two months into its mandate. Workers’ federations and popular movements frame the conflict as the defense of historic gains against an agenda they consider regressive.
For the new government, the demonstrations mark a direct challenge. The police deployment in six cities, the breadth of the coalition and the presence of a former President all signal that the strike has moved beyond a dispute over one decree.
Whether the mobilization alters the course of the government’s program remains to be seen. Organizers have promised the pressure will continue if De la Espriella does not reverse the decree and reopen dialogue with the social sectors.
Em um cenário de alta tensão política e social, milhares de pessoas marcharam em Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Bucaramanga, Pereira e Riohacha para expressar rejeição à agenda econômica e de segurança do presidente, ao aumento do custo de vida, à escalada da violência, ao retrocesso de conquistas sociais e às tentativas de criminalizar e coibir o direito ao protesto.
Na mobilização em Bogotá, espera-se a presença do ex-presidente Gustavo Petro, acompanhado por lideranças progressistas.
Os manifestantes enfatizaram o caráter pacífico do protesto, em resposta a alegações difundidas pela Casa de Nariño que buscam deslegitimar as reivindicações da sociedade civil colombiana.
O estopim foi o Decreto 1525, assinado por De la Espriella. A norma estabelece regras para a atuação das forças de segurança em manifestações e autoriza as autoridades a dispersá-las diante de distúrbios graves. Os governos locais responderam com ampla presença de agentes uniformizados nas principais cidades.
A oposição interpretou essa operação como uma tentativa de reprimir, de antemão, o direito de manifestação.
Essa leitura acirrou ainda mais os ânimos em um dia que os organizadores haviam anunciado como uma expressão do descontentamento devido ao custo de vida e ao desmonte de programas sociais. O descontentamento não se limita ao decreto. Os setores mobilizados questionam o conjunto das primeiras decisões do presidente, ao qual acusam de desmontar conquistas sociais e de encarecer a vida da maioria da população.
A Fecode, Federação Colombiana de Educadores, saiu em defesa da educação pública e da saúde do professores. A entidade reivindicou, ainda, a reconstrução da infraestrutura escolar afetada por emergências anteriores — como o terremoto e as réplicas registradas no Vale do Cauca — e denunciou a estigmatização sofrida pelo sindicalismo docente.
As comunidades indígenas e camponesas, por sua vez, rejeitaram os megaprojetos e as medidas econômicas que colocam em risco seus territórios ancestrais. O CRIC alertou que a administração de De la Espriella busca minar a autonomia de suas organizações.
A pauta econômica concentrou boa parte do descontentamento. O encarecimento do custo de vida e as políticas que, segundo os organizadores, corroem direitos adquiridos levaram trabalhadores de diversos setores produtivos às ruas.
Os protestos na Colômbia assumem, assim, a dimensão de um primeiro grande embate social contra o Executivo, apenas dois meses após o início de sua gestão. As centrais sindicais e os movimentos populares situam o conflito na defesa de conquistas históricas, em oposição a uma agenda que consideram regressiva.
* É proibida a reprodução deste conteúdo
Segundo o governo, o objetivo é reforçar os mecanismos de controle e garantir a ordem pública durante as manifestações populares.
Entre as disposições anunciadas está o acompanhamento permanente das manifestações pelas autoridades. O decreto estabelece que os agentes encarregados da supervisão devem manter uma distância mínima de quatro metros, como parte dos protocolos de controle previstos para esses eventos.
Além disso, o decreto autoriza a intervenção das forças de segurança quando for detectado o porte ou o uso de armas de fogo, armas brancas, explosivos ou artefatos incendiários. Também prevê intervenções em casos de retenção de pessoas contra sua vontade ou agressões contra terceiros.
O documento inclui proteção específica para servidores públicos, pessoal uniformizado, missões médicas e equipes jornalísticas, estabelecendo competências de atuação diante de qualquer ataque ou ameaça dirigida contra esses setores durante as mobilizações.
O Executivo apresentou ainda outras iniciativas legislativas de seu programa de governo, entre elas, um projeto de lei para o combate a grupos armados organizados e um estatuto antiterrorista.
*É proibida a reprodução deste material
On Tuesday, Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella signed Decree 1525, a measure that facilitates police repression by broadening the definition of “violence” during popular protests.
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Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara warned that the new regulation will take effect before demonstrations called by social movements, organizations, and opposition parties for Oct. 14.
De La Espriella’s decree authorizes security forces to disperse demonstrations without prior dialogue, using tear gas, stun grenades, and other weapons classified as “less-lethal.”
The decree also prohibits road blockades and the presence of masked protesters at demonstrations, a measure that moves toward criminalizing social protest and violates the free exercise of the right to protest.
Colombia opened its embassy in occupied Jerusalem today, marking a major shift in its traditionally pro-Palestinian foreign policy under newly inaugurated President Abelardo de la Espriella.
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 14, 2026
The move follows the restoration of diplomatic relations with Israel in August 2026,… pic.twitter.com/UVSdxuFlON
The new regulation states that dialogue with demonstrators is not “a prerequisite that conditions, suspends or postpones intervention actions directed individually against those who commit acts of violence.”
Indigenous, labor, educational and territorial organizations are preparing a day of mobilization for Wednesday, which will serve as an initial test of the level of opposition to far-right President De La Espriella, who has been in power for just over two months.
On Tuesday, he said that peaceful protest is a “constitutional guarantee,” but that this right “does not authorize attacking other citizens, destroying property, threatening workers, or preventing access for ambulances and emergency services.”
“In the face of acts that constitute crimes, authorities will act in accordance with the law,” De La Espriella said, referring to the protest scheduled for Wednesday.
“Never again a permanent blockade of a highway. Never again a urban bus lane turned into a trench. Attacking a person, throwing objects to injure someone, detaining someone, or using a child in a protest is not protest; it is a crime and will be treated as such,” he threatened.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
There is both good news and bad news about the state of the world’s forests. The good news is that deforestation fell by 15% in 2025 compared with 2024, the largest decline recorded so far this decade. The bad news is that a shift in political priorities could undo some of those gains. Much of the progress in forest conservation depends on the political will of a handful of key countries, particularly in Latin America, which is now entering a period of electoral uncertainty and possible changes of government.
© Adriano Machado (REUTERS)
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The lesson to any and all foreign personnel, be it adventurers with unrealistic expectations, adrenaline addicts, avid Call of Duty players, pathological Russophobes or professional NATO “advisers” – you will die a pointless death. Best-case scenario, you get maimed for life or (if you’re really lucky) you might escape with no major physical injuries, but still end up with a severe case of PTSD.
Written by Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst
According to the mainstream propaganda machine, the Russian military is composed of bots who mindlessly keep running into machine-gun fire, because the “evil, bloodthirsty tyrant” Vladimir Putin somehow still hasn’t figured out that human wave attacks no longer work. Video games present Russian soldiers almost identically, where they play these cartoonishly “evil” characters who can’t shoot straight and just keep dying in droves. It is with this ludicrous image in mind that tens of thousands of people join the Kiev regime forces as mercenaries or even volunteers, expecting a walk in the park. Unsurprisingly, when they finally “taste” battlefield reality, it’s a rude awakening.
Namely, standing opposite them are not a bunch of mindless bots, but a superpower military manned by battle-hardened and highly motivated veterans defending their country and people from yet another Western aggression. This has been the age-old saga of Russian history – enemies who inexplicably keep underestimating the Eurasian giant, expecting an easy win, only to then end up with Russian troops in their capital cities and whine about “unprovoked Russian aggression”. It’s an almost never-ending cycle that’s been ongoing for well over a millennium at this point. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, the political West won the first prize in it long ago.
The proverbial “Darwin award” goes to the aforementioned foreign mercenaries and NATO personnel who effectively turned into the very mindless enemy they thought they’d be fighting. Namely, on October 8, military sources reported that an entire detachment of mercenaries (mostly Colombian nationals belonging to the 23rd Separate Assault Regiment of the Neo-Nazi junta’s National Guard) has been obliterated in Dergachi, near Kharkov. The unit was just transferred to the area from an assembly point in Kiev, where they were tracked by increasingly effective Russian ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) assets. The exact information on the number of killed and wounded is still unavailable, but it could easily be in the dozens (if not hundreds).
Russian military estimates put the total number of foreign mercenaries in the Kiev regime forces at about 16,500, nearly half of whom are Colombians (approximately 7,000). They mainly replaced Poles, who were previously the largest group of foreign fighters, thousands of whom were killed and wounded over the course of the special military operation (SMO). Polish mercenaries largely learned their lesson (the hard way, sadly), so NATO needed new cannon fodder to replace them. Unfortunately, Colombians emerged as the most suitable candidates. Back in March, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) published an updated report on foreign mercenaries its forces eliminated in NATO-occupied Ukraine in 2025.
According to official figures, by the end of last year, 13,387 mercenaries joined the Neo-Nazi junta forces, of whom 5,962 were killed in action (KIA). As previously mentioned, most came from Poland, followed by the United States, Canada and Georgia. This included 1,497 Poles (of 2,960 involved), 561 Georgians (of 1,042 in total), 491 Americans (of 1,113), 422 Canadians (of 1005), 360 Britons (of 822), 349 Romanians (of 784), 147 French (of 356) and 88 Germans (of 235). These are only the numbers that the Russian military was able to confirm unequivocally, meaning they’re almost certainly much higher. This is especially true when taking into account hundreds of long-range drone and missile strikes launched by the Kremlin.
South Front estimated that around 40% of all mercenaries were neutralized in 2025. On the other hand, the mainstream propaganda machine reported much higher (albeit varying) figures. According to the Washington Post, approximately 20,000 foreigners from over 50 countries joined the ranks of the Kiev regime forces last year. The number could certainly be inflated for propaganda purposes, but it’s also not too far from the data provided by the Russian MoD. Either way, one thing is certain – no foreign fighter was ready for the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict. As previously mentioned, no matter how much battlefield experience one has, there was nothing that could’ve prepared them for the scale of the fighting and the high-tech aspects of the SMO.
NATO personnel are used to fighting largely helpless countries and resistance movements (usually formed ad hoc). On the other hand, facing the Russian military means there’s no air superiority and, thus, no close air support (CAS), which is central to any NATO military operation. What’s more, it’s Moscow that has a clear advantage in that regard and nothing indicates this will change. Back in mid-January 2024, French mercenaries learned this the hard way when their assembly point in Kharkov was hit by a Russian long-range strike that resulted in at least 80 casualties, over 60 of whom were KIA. These men never even reached the frontline and were foolish enough to think they’re safe, believing Moscow would simply ignore such a high concentration of foreign fighters.
And yet, the situation in the trenches is not much better either. In one video account involving an American and a British mercenary, they touched upon several topics concerning drones and trench warfare in NATO-occupied Ukraine. Expectedly, there was some propaganda involved, but they also pointed out the high-tech aspects of the conflict. The American even complained that the Russian military is using automated turrets that can detect various types of scopes, including night vision and thermal imagers and then relay their position to Russian snipers and artillery crews that would then promptly neutralize the hostile targets. Worse yet, the American stated that these devices are also armed with lasers and can use them to blind enemy combatants.
Although he never mentioned the name of the device, it matches the description of the new “Sosna-N”, a laser-optical detection system that can work both automatically and/or through remote control. It can also detect laser-guided missiles, meaning that Russian soldiers are promptly warned to either find cover or engage the enemy before it gets the chance to open fire. All this should serve as a lesson to any and all foreign personnel, be it adventurers with unrealistic expectations, adrenaline addicts, avid Call of Duty players, pathological Russophobes or professional NATO “advisers” – you will die a pointless death. Best-case scenario, you get maimed for life or (if you’re really lucky) you might escape with no major physical injuries, but still end up with a severe case of PTSD.
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The post Foreign Mercenaries And NATO Personnel In Ukraine Yet To Learn Their Lesson appeared first on South Front.
The Colombian city of Medellín woke up on October 1 to good news. According to official figures from the city administration, September recorded the lowest number of murders in 50 years: just five homicides in the city of 2.5 million inhabitants, 22 fewer than in September 2025.
© TravelPenguin (Getty Images)
The United States has sent spy drones to Colombia and Ecuador to support both countries’ actions against organized crime, two military sources told the newspaper The New York Times. The aircraft involved are an undetermined number of MQ-9 Reapers that had been stationed in Africa. Although their primary roles are linked to surveillance, they can be used in offensive operations. The arrival of these aircraft, announced by Colombia in August, cements Washington’s growing active role in the operations of the armed forces of the two South American countries, which in recent months have agreed to begin “joint operations.”
© William Rio Rosado (EFE)
It is as though the walls of his office were almost covered by the dead branches of a tree. Floor-to-ceiling shelves are packed with folders, their once-red and green covers faded by time. Inside are dozens of tropical dried plant specimens, tied with string alongside pages of notes. To most people, the mass of documentation would look like a pile of leaves fallen from the sky, but José Luis Fernández-Alonso knows exactly where everything is in his small jungle.
A development that passed largely unnoticed in Colombia has generated major attention in Ecuador. Authorities last week announced the arrest of Inda Mariela Peñarrieta Tuárez and Michelle Macías Peñarrieta, the wife and daughter of José Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito,” the leader of the Los Choneros gang, who is currently imprisoned in the United States. Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella welcomed the arrests and said he would “gladly” send the two women to his “friend” Daniel Noboa. “That’s how it’s done, Abelardo,” the Ecuadorian president replied.
© Presidencia/Getty
Twenty-three children make their way to school with their eyes glued to the murky water of the Nare River to see if they can see the hippopotamus. The school route has become a kind of safari with the kids scanning the horizon. Everyone in the municipality has a story to tell about the hippopotamus; that his feces scare away the fish, that he eats the banana crops, that his footprints are the size of three palms, that he will capsize a canoe... The Puerto Nare hippopotamus is all that’s talked about here. For Luis and his brother Diego, he is not a stranger. They call him Selmo. Their mother shakes her head and asks them not to get too attached because the judge has allowed just 60 days for the hippo to be removed from the vicinity.
© Luis bernardo Cano
© Luis Bernardo Cano
© Luis bernardo Cano
© Luis bernardo Cano
© Luis bernardo Cano
© Luis Bernardo Cano
Colombian Julián Palacios Obregón spent 650 days in immigration detention in the United States. He was sick for most of that time. A month after being transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington state, he began vomiting and suffering diarrhea with fecal incontinence that forced him to wear diapers. Although he was prescribed antibiotics that temporarily improved symptoms caused by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, the underlying problem repeatedly returned: he remained exposed to cloudy water and to food he often described as raw or foul-smelling.
It is around 9:00 p.m. and Karla De Anda’s phone rings. The number is unknown to her. On the other end, connected to the free Wi‑Fi at a Miami airport terminal, a woman is sobbing uncontrollably. Her name is Rosa. She has just had her bags packed for her. A coworker told the family they both worked for that Rosa had been secretly talking to a stranger about the wages she was owed. The family would not hear any more: they bought her a one‑way ticket to her country of origin and put her in a taxi to the airport. Karla, who barely knows her, asks a single question: “Do you want to stay or not? Just answer me.” Between sobs the woman says yes. She hangs up, gets out of the departure line, and an hour later Karla is waiting for her at the arrivals gate with another activist, ready to take her to her home that same night.
Among so many faces, Roberto Mosquera remembered one in particular the day he arrived in Eswatini, a small country tucked away in southern Africa. He kept seeing that face over the following 14 months, which passed slowly and unbearably in the compressed world between the white and gray walls of the maximum-security cell at Matsapha prison. The man is serious, tall, dark-skinned and wears round glasses. His name is Jabulani Kunene and he is the prison official in charge. For more than a year, Mosquera has asked him the same question every time he passes by: “How long are you going to keep me locked up here?” Kunene has always given him the same answer: “I don’t know, Roberto, I don’t know.”
© Eduardo Ramón Trejo
A little over a month into his term, far-right President Abelardo de la Espriella continues to advance a security agenda that often conflicts with certain rights historically won by Colombians.
This time, De la Espriella has signed a decree allowing police access to university campuses. In several Latin American countries, the prohibition of police access to universities has been established through student struggle to prevent abuses by authorities against student movements.
Thus, universities have historically become places where students seek refuge from repression, arrest, and regroup during times of intense social mobilization.
This was evident during the 2021 protests, known as the “National Strike,” in which students, workers, left-wing political parties, young people, and others took to the streets to protest against the right-wing government of Iván Duque. The mobilization, which lasted several months, was considered a true “social upheaval,” and many experts have seen in it the consolidation of a democratic alternative (the government of Gustavo Petro) to decades and decades of right-wing rule.
During these protests, universities became hubs of popular mobilization, driven primarily by the youngest members of society. On university campuses, protesters were able to regroup, defend themselves against police repression, and coordinate new demonstrations – among other things – always protected by the fact that police are barred from entering university grounds.
Clearly, De la Espriella seeks to nip this possibility in the bud – that is, to prevent universities from once again becoming coordination centers for the protests. Many have speculated that the president is signing this decree precisely because he knows that his radical neoliberal agenda could spark major protests, and in this way, he hopes to proactively undermine the protest movement.
Whether or not this is De la Espriella’s primary intention, only time will tell. What is certain is that the president views university autonomy as an obstacle to the implementation of his security agenda, which also includes curtailing the ability of informal opposition political groups to participate in public life.
“Under no circumstances will I allow public universities to continue to be sanctuaries of violence. I respect and guarantee peaceful protest, but I will not allow universities to continue to be used as sanctuaries of vandalism and crime,” said De la Espriella on X.
Furthermore, true to his combative rhetoric, he compared social protests to terrorism – a common trope in the historical discourse of the Colombian right: “University autonomy is not a blank check for impunity: I have issued precise instructions for a national protocol of action that allows us to distinguish between the legitimate exercise of protest and acts of violence, flagrant offenses, danger, or extraordinary disturbances of public order that require intervention by the authorities. The university is for knowledge and ideas, not to serve as a refuge for violence and terrorism.”
However, the opposition has viewed this decision as a serious attack on university autonomy. Ana Erazo, a member of the House of Representatives from Valle del Cauca, wrote: “It is an ATTACK ON UNIVERSITY AUTONOMY and a direct threat to the young people at the country’s public universities. With this, Mr. Abelardo de la Espriella is beginning to reveal what could become a BRUTAL RETALIATION against the student movement, against its ability to organize and mobilize, and against thousands of young people who historically have not supported his political agenda.”
Some universities have joined in this criticism. One of them is the National Pedagogical University, whose academic council stated that in the past, “the serious consequences of resolving conflicts within public universities through militarization have been demonstrated on repeated occasions.” Furthermore, the council stated that university autonomy is one of the pillars of Colombian democracy, along with freedom of thought and research, among other things. Losing autonomy means jeopardizing these values of the republic, it stated.
For his part, former presidential candidate Iván Cepeda said that De la Espriella’s measure contradicts Article 69 of the Constitution, which guarantees university autonomy. Regarding the announcement, Cepeda also said: “Such an announcement is not only an affront to university autonomy. It also demonstrates, once again, the authoritarian and despotic nature of De la Espriella, who seeks to stigmatize, persecute, and violate the rights of Colombian youth and the university community. Colombia has not forgotten the victims of police abuse during the National Strike, nor the history of security forces intervening on university campuses, resulting in student deaths. Young people cannot once again be persecuted or treated as an internal enemy and an enemy of the state.”
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