Ocular aggressions committed by police documented in Colombia

Bogota, July 4 (RHC)-- The Movement of Victims against Ocular Aggressions by the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) committed in Colombia, documents up to today 82 cases during the national strike, but estimates that there could be about 200 including other scenarios.

According to Noticias Uno, the Movement has 60 members and began to organize since the beginning of 2020, because already in the November 2019 strike, the Esmad began to perpetrate this type of aggressions.

Cristian Zárate, spokesman for the collective, who lost part of his vision in his left eye due to an aggression by that elite body of the National Police, explained that the Movement has objectives, foundations and an entire organization to promote social, legal and political actions to fulfill its objectives.

He explained that the purpose is to dismantle the Esmad, to make a process of vindication to the victims left by this systematic act of the State in order not to leave them helpless and to avoid repetition.

Last April 28th, a national strike began in Colombia against neoliberal measures of the government of Iván Duque, considered the largest social outburst in the last 70 years.

After more than two months since it began, the anti-government mobilization continues in the country through different expressions such as cultural events, sector assemblies, marches, among others, almost all strongly repressed by the police and the Esmad.

This Sunday, the director of the Colombian National Police, Jorge Luis Vargas, announced that there will be transformations in the Esmad - accused of violence against demonstrators - to 'promote and guarantee' human rights, however he generally approves of their performance.