The Grupo de Puebla rejects any act of insubordination by security forces that threatens social peace and democracy, such as that which occurred in Argentina in recent days. Likewise, it rejects the excessive responses of that same force against social protests such as those that occurred in the last 48 hours in Colombia, which caused the death of 11 citizens and the destruction of several police facilities.
On Tuesday, a group of members of the security force of the province of Buenos Aires met outside the presidential residence in Olivos, demanding a salary increase. The president of the Argentine nation, Alberto Fernandez, immediately offered to open a dialogue, which the protesters and leaders of the Buenos Aires police resisted, establishing conditions in a clear attitude of intimidation that cannot take place in a democracy.
The weapons that the States give to the security forces are to take care of the citizens, not to extort a government in the face of sectorial claims. For this reason we repudiate the actions of this group and also the silence of certain political sectors that do nothing but undermine the rule of law and social peace as a method of systematic destabilization of the right, which can be observed in several countries in the region. We call on the various economic, social and political forces to support democratic and dialogical solutions to this type of conflict.
On Wednesday, in Bogotá, a commando of the Metropolitan Police, using excessive force, caused the death of a citizen with the improper use of electric guns and a subsequent beating inside the police facilities. This fact originated legitimate social protests throughout the country, which were repelled with disproportionate force by the Police, a circumstance that was taken advantage of by anarchist agitators to vandalize installations, public transportation vehicles, and unleash greater confrontations that cost the lives of 11 innocent citizens and left a balance of 403 wounded.
The Grupo de Puebla emphatically rejects the excessive use of force by the authorities in charge of guarding public order, expresses its feelings of solidarity with
the victims, and calls for the protection of the right to peaceful protest and respect for human rights.
Signers:
Ernesto Samper
Gabriela Rivadeneira
Aloizio Mercadante
Marco Enríquez-Ominami
Adriana Salvatierra
Daniel Martínez
Esperanza Martinez
Carol Proner
Alejandro Navarro
Carlos Ominami
José Miguel Insulza
Jorge Taiana
Beatriz Paredes
Carlos Sotelo
Andres Arauz