One month after the start of the national strike, we have recorded at least 66 fatalities during the riots in Colombia, mostly young students and workers between the ages of 17 and 26. Police brutality, confrontations and a string of events were evidenced in a database built by Rutas del Conflicto, in which we aim to tell who the victims were and the circumstances surrounding their death.

Paro Nacional- 28 de Mayo from Rutas del Conflicto on Vimeo.

Although the main motive for citizens to protest was their discontent with the tax reform bill proposed by the government of Iván Duque, once the bill was withdrawn, the population continued to show discontent towards the government, which offered "military assistance" to the cities.

Several human rights organizations have denounced repeated abuses and lethal violence by state forces during the national strike. In the report submitted by NGO Temblores and Indepaz to the IACHR between April 28 and May 12, at least 2,110 cases of violence by the state forces were registered, including 362 victims of physical violence, 39 homicides, 1,055 arbitrary detentions against demonstrators, 442 violent interventions in the midst of peaceful protests, 30 victims of ocular aggressions, 133 cases of firearm shots, 16 victims of sexual violence and 3 victims of gender-based violence. 

On the fourth day of demonstrations, on May 2, Iván Duque asked Congress to withdraw the tax reform and process a new bill. The following day, the former Minister of Finance, Alberto Carrasquilla, resigned. However, the discontent in the streets continued.

Although the tax reform bill was dropped, thousands of citizens continue marching for several reasons: to overturn the health reform, to reform the National Police, against the murders of social leaders and ex-combatants, to demand that the Peace Agreement is enforced, among other demands. However, police brutality, confrontations with the police, and confusing circumstances that resulted in the deaths of the victims, mostly youths, have stained the protests with blood.

Who are the victims

According to the sources consulted, several victims were killed by police officers who violently attacked peaceful demonstrations, such as the Calima and Siloé vigils in Cali. In Madrid, Cundinamarca, the young father of a two-year-old child was killed by a shot from a tank, according to his sister, some 20 meters away, which arrived to attack demonstrators who were chanting and dancing.

Some managed to escape these attacks but later died, such as Daniel Azcarate (19 years old), killed by an unknown person, and Brian Rojas (26 years old), who was found dead in the Cauca River.

Others were killed in the midst of confrontations, such as Marcelo Agredo, who had previously tried to kick his killer, a policeman, and Santiago Murillo, who was on his way home and had the misfortune of passing by a place where an unknown person allegedly threw a stone at some uniformed officers, who, in response, opened fire. Yarli Parra, killed in the midst of confrontations, was presented by the police as the victim of an assault. There are also victims who were found dead in unknown circumstances, such as Jesús Solano, a captain of the Sijín who was killed with a knife during confusing events in Soacha.

To date, at least two elderly people have died as a result of tear gases, one of them is Jovita Osorio, 73 years old, who died of cardiac arrest at the Rafael Uribe Clinic after a gas shell entered through the front yard of her home in Cali.

There were also casualties amid tensions over the protests. A local merchant killed Michel Reyes for asking for money on a blocked road in Bogotá and in Pijao, Quindío, a man who was not allowed to pass in a demonstration pulled out a gun, killed another man. In retaliation, people killed him with sticks and stones.

On May 13, in the city of Popayán, a 17-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by police officers in an Immediate Reaction Unit (URI) in the Chirrimía sector, south of the capital of Cauca, committed suicide. Before the events, the young woman posted on her social networks that she was not an active part of the demonstrations and that she was on her way to a colleague's house when she was arbitrarily detained by four ESMAD agents. Lizeth Montero, lawyer and defender of Human Rights in Popayán expressed that on the day of the events: "There was no possibility of verifying the processes of arbitrary detentions that were taken to the URI". The name of the young woman is not referenced in this publication, as her relatives do not want her name to be disclosed. 

Over recent weeks, Rutas del Conflicto recorded 13 new cases, of which four are concentrated in Tuluá (Valle del Cauca) where last Tuesday, May 25, the fire of the Palace of Justice of the municipality was registered. One of the victims is Camilo Andrés Arango, who was a second-semester law student at the Unidad Central del Valle del Cauca in Tuluá and demonstrated peacefully in front of the municipality's Mayor's Office. When the fire in the Palace of Justice occurred, some witnesses affirm that the attack by ESMAD at the demonstration was with tear gas, tanks, and shots of pellets.

Camilo was helping other protesters when he was hit in the chest by a fire gun. The protesters mention that the ambulance and its subsequent transfer to the San Francisco Clinic were excessively delayed since the health center is only four blocks from the scene and that "the conditions for the mobility of the medical mission were necessary ”.

Digital witnesses

Something that has distinguished recent protests worldwide has been the possibility of publicly denouncing various human rights violations that occur, including live and in real time. This happened, for example, on Thursday, May 6, when citizens used their cell phones to show how a police truck in Cali was transporting plain-clothed policemen who, according to them, attacked people with firearms. Although the Police admitted the fact, they said that the policemen were also the victims of attacks by citizens.

Nicolás Guerrero was a 22-year-old artist who lived in the city of Cali. According to witnesses who were with him at the time of his death on May 2, Guerrero was shot by police officers while at a vigil near Calima in Cali in honor of those killed in the national strike. During a live broadcast by a DJ known as Juan de León, it could be seen how first aid was given. According to El País de Cali, the young man died while being taken to the hospital. His case is one of the most recognized in the midst of the national strike, as thousands of people saw how he was killed during an Instagram transmission.

Another aspect of this violence has been represented by Lucas Villa, a student of Sports Science at the Technological University of Pereira. Throughout the day of May 5 he was participating in the peaceful marches in the city of Pereira and, through videos shared on Twitter and Facebook, several users highlighted the joy and joviality he expressed. That night, he and some of his friends were on the César Gaviria viaduct, which connects Pereira with the municipality of Dosquebradas. Lucas and some of his companions were approached by a gray vehicle, and its occupants began to talk to them. A few minutes later, at least seven shots were heard, fired from an unidentified vehicle by people dressed as civilians. According to El Tiempo, Lucas was shot twice: once in the head and once in the lower part of his right leg. He was taken to San Jorge hospital, where he underwent surgery. During the night of May 10, after being diagnosed as brain dead, he died in the intensive care unit at the San Jorge Hospital in Pereira. 

In the midst of the continuity of the National Strike, on May 12, after his intervention in a session of the House of Representatives, national prosecutor Francisco Barbosa stated that the institution is investigating 70 cases of police abuse that occurred during protests. A day later, it was known that the Prosecutor's Office captured police patrolman Luis Angel Piedrahita Hernandez, who shot and killed 17 year old Marcelo Agredo in the city of Cali on April 28, and charged him with the crime of aggravated homicide. 

After a month of the strike, in the list of demands of the protests, it is added the claims for the implementations of the Peace agreements, the reform of the Police, and the cessation of human rights violations in the framework of the protest. Due to this last request, on Monday, May 24, the motion of censure began against Defense Minister Diego Molano, promoted by the country's congressmen.

After four days of debates, on Thursday, May 27, the Senate plenary ratified Molano in his position with 69 votes for no and 31 for yes. Although it was discussed the possibility of taking the vote to the House of Representatives, Article 135 of the Constitution stipulates that once one chamber has spoken, the other must abstain from doing so. This decision motivated the protesters to continue in the streets demanding answers and changes in the current government.

Since the first days of the protest and after reports of disappearances, murders, and excesses committed by state forces, the possibility of a visit by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) began to be discussed. On May 14, the organization requested approval from the National Government to enter the country and evaluate the situation. Although the door had been closed, Vice President Marta Lucia Ramírez agreed on May 31 that on June 7 the IACHR would receive official information from the Attorney General's Office, the Public Defender's Office, and the Attorney General's Office in private meetings.