Colombia Police Respond to Protests With Bullets, and Death Toll Mounts

Strained by the pandemic and economic hardship, the country has exploded in anger. At least 24 people have died as the government cracks down.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — A teenager shot to death after kicking a police officer. A young man bleeding out on the street as protesters shout for help. Police firing on unarmed demonstrators. Helicopters swarming overhead, tanks rolling through neighborhoods, explosions echoing in the streets. A mother crying for her son. “We are destroyed,” said Milena Meneses, 39, whose only son Santiago, 19, was killed in a protest over the weekend. Colombians demonstrating over the past week against the poverty and inequality that have worsened the lives of millions since the Covid-19 pandemic began have been met with a powerful crackdown by their government, which has responded to the protests with the same militarized police force it often uses against rebel fighters and organized crime.