26.02.2020
The so called "Tropel". A fight against the system, the police and the goverment held every Thursday at the gate of the public university. Students and leftist groups use this fight as a way to avenge students killed by police violence in the last 20 years.
01.07.2020
Even the harshest lockdown couldn´t stop the unrest. After a 12 year old indigenous kid was raped by military men, collectives of women and indigenous people took the streets despite the curfew.
19.08.2020
After 5 kids in one of the most violent neighbourhoods in Cali were killed, people took the streets to protest against the negligence of police and the lack of support of the goverment on clarifying what happened. Until this day, justice moves slow and most of the deaths are left forgotten.
21.08.2020
Throgh street art, young people show their discontent with the goverment. Posters of the ex-president Alvaro Uribe Velez with a skull on his face shows the image young people have of him. The image of a genocidal autocrat.
10.09.2020
After an other case of police violence against a civilian, people took the streets to burn down police stations across the country. A lawyer was tased to death by two police officers, and on the same day people all around the country started to rise in protest.
Police start using live rounds against protesters. Official report says 0 deaths. Unofficially 3 people were shot dead.
Banks known to support goverment officials were plundered and burned down during the unrest.
Police officers throwing stones back at protesters.
19.11.2020
Riot police arrive at a peacefull protest close to the public university in Cali.
Journalists and human right activists try to convince the police not to attack peaceful protesters with no luck. This made the masses retreat to the public university.
Radicalized collectives and students proceed to defend themselves from the police offensive with stones, molotov coctails and shields.
Many where left injured but the unrest hasn´t stopped yet.
11.03.2021
A military air strike aimed at guerrilla disidents caused indignation among the populantion. No guerrilla member was killed during the strike. Only 14 children.
People saw this as the return of the false possitives... a Colombian term for civilians killed by military for the sake of showing results to their officials.
23.04.2021
Police take over the public university after a student camp. They claimed there´s a threat of terrorism. In the picture, policemen taking pictures of press and students even with their personal phones to persue them illegaly afterwards.
28.04.2021
A new wave of protests start after the goverment confirms a tax reform that would higher the tax of medium and low income people. This sparked protests that would last up to 3 months. Indigenous collectives from all the country came to gather in the cities to support the protesters.
Busses were burned down, bussiness were plundered and streets blocked.
While people fought with sticks, stones and home made slingshots, police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds against protesters.
Not even the press is safe from the violent police reaction.
During the next days thousands took the streets in support of the protests and against the violence perpetuated by the police.
Police became a common enemy due to their extraofficial executions and paramilitary actions against the civilian population.
They´re not allowed to shoot live rounds against protesters, or directly at their heads since this can lead to serious injury or death.
In 23 different parts of the city, people started building barricades to stop police vehicles from coming through. With shields, stones and anything that was on hand, people started to arm themselves against the police.
Even kids from the poorest neighbourhoods were part of this fight, due to their hopelesness for a better future.
Each night police would pick up civilians even if they had nothing to do with the protests just to show results, or show that they have captured someone. Streets became unlivable, and the fear of encountering a police motorbike became greater than anything else.
Up to this day, people keep fighting against the corrupt goverment of Colombia. As a fotojournalist I had to leave the country due to deaththreats by the police and goverment. But this images are to show how a goverment that is supposed to be democratic censores information for this images never to be seen in public.
