Photo by NOMADESC.

On May 26, Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project tweeted: “The Association for Research for Social Action (NOMADESC) and victims of police violence in Cali receive valuable support from the Embassy of Germany in Colombia and the European Union in Colombia. Today delegates received a report on violations of human rights within the framework of the national strike in Cali.”

NOMADESC tweeted: “Delegation of the German Embassy and the European Union visiting NOMADESC receives a detailed report of serious violations of human rights, committed by the Public Force in the city of Cali from April 28, 2021, to date.”

State violence in Cali

Indepaz has documented that 31 people have been killed between April 28 and May 4 during the national strike. 24 of those were killed in Cali. Civil society organizations have now recorded 51 deaths in the context of the protests.

ABC News has reported: “Among the dead is 17-year-old Marcelo Agredo who was allegedly fatally shot by a police officer on April 28 in Cali, Colombia. Video from the incident shows Agredo appearing to kick a police officer sitting on a motorbike before the officer opens fire. A government agency is now investigating his death.”

BBC has also reported: “Local media named one of those who died in the city’s protests as Nicolás Guerrero, a 27-year-old artist. The mayor of Cali, Jorge Iván Ospina, said Guerrero had died of a gunshot wound to the head.” The Mayor said: “I condemn this and I ask of all police to not even think about using guns in these protests.”

And the Associated Press has reported: “The United Nations human rights office said it was ‘deeply alarmed’ over violence against protesters in Cali, where ‘police opened fire on demonstrators’ and allegedly killed and injured several people [on May 3].”

The situation overall

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued this statement that “at least 1,038 demonstrations have resulted in deaths, disappearances, injured persons and sexual assaults as a result of the disproportionate and illegitimate use of force.”

“The Inter-American Commission finds the complaints of 132 persons who remain missing extremely serious and for whom the Attorney General’s Office keeps the urgent search mechanism active.”

“The IACHR [also] expresses alarm and denounces at least 87 acts of sexual violence allegedly committed by law ensuing agents against female protesters, such as the case of the teenager who reported being sexually assaulted by several law authority agents in the city of Popayán and who subsequently committed suicide on 12 May.”

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