Friday, November 3, 2023

Hostages freed in deadly Colombia energy protests

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On Friday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Twitter that his ministers had successfully negotiated the release of 88 hostages taken during a protest against oil company Emerald Energy. The hostages included police officers and oil officials who were retained in San Vicente del Caguán, Caquetá. Petro thanked the ministers of Defense and the Interior for their efforts. In a video released to the media, Petro also appealed to the protesters, promising a “dialogue” with them “about their needs, their complaints, their claims”. The protests were led by Indigenous and rural communities who demanded infrastructure investments and compensation for environmental damage caused by Emerald Energy.

The protests began on Thursday and shut down access to an oil field. Video footage showed demonstrators setting fire to company property. Two people were killed in the demonstrations: a civilian struck by gunfire and a police officer identified as 39-year-old Ricardo Arley Monroy. Government officials, including the defense minister and interior minister, traveled to San Vicente del Caguán to meet with protesters. However, the interior minister announced that a full government dialogue could only occur with the “immediate release” of the captured police officers and the six workers still in custody by Friday morning.

Protesters have called on Emerald Energy to repave roads and improve facilities like schools in the largely rural area surrounding the oil fields. A spokesperson for the communities involved in the protest denied reports that armed groups had infiltrated the demonstrations, calling the rumors an attempt to delegitimize the protesters’ demands. The interior minister seemed to address those concerns in a statement to local media on Friday, saying that they were careful not to stigmatize or allow the stigmatization of the peasant social movement in Colombia.

Petro is considered the first left-wing president in Colombia’s history following his inauguration last August. His government has approached the country’s nearly six-decades-long internal conflict through a policy of dialogue and negotiations, intending to achieve “total peace”. Recently, his administration has resumed talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), the largest remaining rebel group in the country. However, the protests in San Vicente del Caguán renewed criticism from conservatives that Petro has not taken an aggressive enough approach to end the lawlessness.

On Friday, far-right Senator María Fernanda Cabal denounced Petro’s government on Twitter for showing “indifference” to the families of police officers held hostage by not taking stronger action. In his video statement on Friday, Petro offered condolences to those harmed in the demonstrations. He also condemned the “violent actions” taken during the protests, calling them counterproductive. “What they do is destroy the possibility, not only of having a popular, progressive government but of having paths of peace,” Petro said.

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