A rally was held yesterday at the Colonial Building in St. John’s in support of Colombia following weeks of violence and protests in the country.
Viviana Ramirez Luna is originally from Colombia and has been living in Newfoundland and Labrador for 11 years.
She says the protests started on April 28th in response to proposed tax increases that would hit the middle and lower class hard. According to Luna, two days later the president withdrew the proposal for the tax increases, but the protests continued.
She says there are many underlying factors as to why the protests have continued such as a history of violence, corruption and inequality in the country and mismanagement of the pandemic which has lead to harsh living conditions.
Viviana Ramirez Luna helped organize the rally.
Luna states that the demands of the protestors are a minimum mandatory salary, free post secondary tuition for low income families, and an end to the “systemic violence” against Colombians.
Luckily, Luna says her friends and family are safe, but they are seeing the violence and food scarcity unfold.
According to Luna it’s been difficult to watch the situation develop. When the protests started, Luna says she couldn’t stop crying.
Luna says the hope of the rally is to get the attention of the federal government.
Photo courtesy Jonathan Randell Smith.
Photo courtesy Jonathan Randell Smith.
