COLOMBIA: Growing agrarian protests turn violent as unions and social movements join striking farmers and truckers to demand more government help after being hit by poor harvests and rising costs

Record ID: 341184

  • Title: COLOMBIA: Growing agrarian protests turn violent as unions and social movements join striking farmers and truckers to demand more government help after being hit by poor harvests and rising costs
  • Date: 21st August 2013
  • Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (AUGUST 20, 2013) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF PEOPLE MARCHING IN SUPPORT OF THE FARMERS' STRIKE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE MARCHING POLICE ON SITE GENERAL VIEW OF THE MARCH (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SOCIAL LEADER NATALIA PARRA OSORIO SAYING: "We have come out today to support the strike carried out by the farmers, by the truckers and by the people who have been directly
  • Embargoed: 5th September 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: Crime,General,Economy,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1HZ4JAOP4RM33Y7SQUJP50HYB
  • Story Text: Protests widened in Colombia on Tuesday (August 20) as unions and social movements joined striking farmers and trucker to demand an increase in government subsidies to compensate for falling coffee prices and high-fuel costs.
    Demonstrators marched on Bogota as the growing protest movement calls on conservative President Juan Manuel Santos to protect agrarian workers hit by years of poor weather and crop disease and truckers calling for some respite in diesel prices.
    "We have come out today to support the strike carried out by the farmers, by the truckers and by the people who have been directly affected. We are affected indirectly and for that reason we are sometimes passive but the idea is to support these people who are fighting for their rights," said social leader Natalie Parra Osorio.
    In Colombia's rural Tierra Negra, angry farmers blocked key highways and secondary roads with debris. They've seen their livelihoods shrink in recent years as the cost of fertilisers and other imports needed to produce coffee has chipped away at earnings, already reduced by low bean prices and the country's strong currency.
    Farmer Hector Julio Suarez has vowed to keep up his road blockade until the government find's a solution to growing agrarian discontent in Colombia.
    "If we have to fight with police with rocks and sticks then so be it. If there is more than one injured, so be it. But sincerely, until the president fixes the situation we will not allow one car to pass. If we have to attack it or burn it, we will do it," he declared.
    In rural protest hotspots such as El Cairo and Tunja, scuffles erupted between police and demonstrators as authorities tried to disperse striking farmers and truckers.
    The labour disputes are putting pressure on President Juan Manuel Santos, who is taking the biggest gamble of his career by engaging in peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Latin America's largest guerrilla group.
    The FARC guerilla movement have expressed their support for the protests as they seek to carve out a political role in Colombia during ongoing peace talks in Havana.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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