Colombia’s Duque seeks to calm protest as grievances fester

Protest groups are sceptical of dialogue with embattled president saying similar talks accomplished little after 2019 demonstrations.

Colombian President Ivan Duque has met with political opponents and expressed more optimism than his critics about progress made towards calming more than a week of widespread and sometimes deadly street protests. “We had a productive meeting with the coalition of hope, a great opportunity for dialogue, overcoming differences and without political point-scoring,” Duque wrote on social media on Friday, referring to the group of politicians. But opposition attendees said Duque needed to do a lot of work to address demands for action on poverty, unemployment and ending police violence.