By Rafael Cerame
Violent protests have taken place in Colombia for a month, initially as a popular reaction to the presentation of a tax reform bill that would increase taxes, affecting the country’s middle class and working sectors.
After four days of protests, President Iván Duque, who during his campaign developed the slogan «fewer taxes and more wages,» withdrew the legislation and called for a national dialogue table in search of consensus to evaluate alternatives that allow increasing the collections of the nation.
However, the protests did not stop, and have been 29 days of uninterrupted demonstrations, affecting commerce, transportation, and essential services to the population, aggravating the problematic situation of the Covid-19 pandemic in Colombia.
After the withdrawal of the controversial legislation that aspired to raise 23.4 billion Colombian pesos (6.3 billion dollars), who are the protagonists of the protests in that country? In answer to that question, it will be possible to show who is behind the «hooded» in those demonstrations …
Logical reasoning to try to understand what is happening in Colombia leads us to question the continuity of the protests if, on the fourth day after they took place, they managed to get President Duque to withdraw the tax reform bill from Congress and call for dialogue.
From the analysis, it can be concluded that the continuation of the protests responds to a political objective: to destabilize the country, creating institutional chaos before the electoral year in Colombia. That has been the «modus operandi» of the strategists of the radical left, who in these times operate behind the scenes, infiltrated in environmental movements, university students, and union groups.
The protagonists of the continuation of the protests in Colombia are not those who initially would be most affected by President Duque’s tax reform. Those now in the streets are not the «middle class» and working class of the country. Violent groups are on the roads, duly organized, equipped, and trained to cause chaos and social disorder.
There is no doubt that the political and social destabilization of Colombia suits Maduro’s narco-dictatorship in Venezuela. President Duque has been an ally of the Venezuelan opposition and a promoter of the return to democracy in his neighboring country. Therefore, the Duque Administration in Colombia is an enemy of Nicolás Maduro and his ideological allies in Cuba and Nicaragua.
The organization of these protests in Colombia should not be a spontaneous reaction of society. Once the tax reform is removed from Congress, the violent riots respond to alter Colombia’s constitutional order and the current system of government.
Let us not lose perspective that there is an activity convenient for institutional chaos and totalitarian governments to develop their operations: Drug trafficking. Its precisely why these criminal organizations are natural allies of the Maduro, Ortega, and Castro regimes.
Those of us who believe in democracy and freedom; In respect for human rights, and a government system that allows people to develop to the maximum of their capacities should be concerned about the dangerous moment that Colombia is experiencing today.
This threat of the interests that today govern Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela will not rest trying to do the same in the rest of the American hemisphere.
What is happening today in Colombia is precisely that.
