COLOMBIA: Violent clashes between police and agricultural workers continue as country enters fifth day of strikes.

Record ID: 341190

  • Title: COLOMBIA: Violent clashes between police and agricultural workers continue as country enters fifth day of strikes.
  • Date: 23rd August 2013
  • Summary: VIA LA CALERA A BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (AUGUST 23, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE ROAD TO BOGOTA BLOCKED WITH ROCKS BY PROTESTING FARMERS PROTESTERS SETTING FIRE TO TIRES ANTI-RIOT POLICE ARRIVING AT THE PROTESTS VARIOUS OF POLICE AND FARMERS FIGHTING POLICE USING TEAR GAS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ANDRES ORJUELA, PROTESTING FARMER, SAYING: "We came to support the protests of our f
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: Crime,Employment,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACASD1CUN86A5X5JNOO1YE49ZM
  • Story Text: Violent confrontations between police and agricultural workers continued Friday (August 23) as authorities sought to remove dozens of roadblocks that have snarled travel on Colombia's highways and prevented produce getting to market.
    The protest by thousands of Colombian farmers and truckers that began on Monday has blocked roads nation-wide and become increasingly violent. Demonstrators around the country threw rocks and explosives and set fire to tires in roadways while police launched teargas to clear protesters.
    On Friday, the protests that have been largely concentrated outside the nation's capital, moved closer to Bogota as protesters blocked roads into the city.
    Farmer Andres Orjuela came out to demonstrate in opposition to Colombia's economic policies, which he and others say are hurting national industries.
    "We came to support the protests of our friends from Boyaca and from every part of the country that are being affected by the famous free trade agreements that sadly are crushing the Colombian farmer, here we are not able to compete," he said.
    The demonstrations are the second wave of so-called national strikes against President Juan Manuel Santos' agriculture and economic policies which farmers say leave them unable to make any profit.
    Potato, corn and milk producers complain that free trade agreements with Europe and the United States have made it difficult to compete with cheap imports.
    Some coffee growers have joined the protests, seeking more effort by the government to weaken the currency. They also want help to pay for fertilizers and other farming chemicals.
    "They get to spend money on war and other things and the poor Colombians are treated badly because here in the Ubate province we are bearing the brunt of it, the transporters, the miners, the ranchers, the whole world. So we need them to lower the (cost) of fuel and for them to put their hand on their heart and think a little about us," said a protester in Ubate, in the Cundinamarca department northeast of Bogota.
    Colombia's Interior Minister Fernando Carrillo on Thursday (August 22) urged protesters to reject the use of violence in order to facilitate negotiations.
    "We have made a approach to an initial formal dialogue as long as the use of violence is expressly condemned, acting out is condemned, we believe that through the path of violence and the path of acting out, agreements won't be reached," he said.
    Much of the violence took place in central Boyaca province, a key farming area, as well as southwestern Cauca.
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