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Since Duque took office in August 2018, there have been constant mobilizations by diverse sectors. However, the current national strike has been the longest and most unifying social outbreak in Colombia. It has transcended the national strike of November 2019, which brought tens of thousands on the streets across the country for several weeks against the government’s policies. 
In Bosa, the ancestral territory of the Muisca peoples, the National Popular Assembly was held with the participation of more than 2,000 in-person and virtual delegates from different regions of the country in an autonomous and self-organized exercise. The Assembly declares itself as a permanent process that constitutes itself as an organ of popular power.
Since last May 16, the social protest moved to the Costayaco Field of GTE, demanding the immediate suspension of oil operations due to the historical environmental liabilities generated by this multinational, and in the meantime agreements are established with the national and departmental government regarding points that support our protest exercise.
On May 13, 2021, our organizations received sensitive accounts of absolutely horrific police conduct and practices which, if true, must be shocking to anyone with a human conscience. These accounts show that when there is a mentality at the highest levels of government that defines young demonstrators as “terrorist vandals” and issues the corresponding orders against them, they become targets and victims of criminal designs, with the gravest consequences imaginable.
Despite brutal state repression, Colombia’s general strike has continued strong. The revolt has largely been leaderless and solidarity has expanded to include an impressively wide array of Colombian society. As in many other recent uprisings around the world, this one has been driven first and foremost by youth who know that their only hope to have any future at all is to fight for it. 
In Cali, a city in southwestern Colombia, protesters put up barricades across the city. A front line — la primera línea — sometimes guards these barricades with masks and helmets and shields. Cali is the epicenter of the unrest that has convulsed Colombia for more than a month. A tax reform bill proposed by right-wing President Ivan Duque sparked protests in late April.
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We encourage you to invite your allies and subscribe to this email list to receive this bulletin, news from our activities and “urgent action” when injustices occur in Colombia that are attributable to the actions of Canadian companies.
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