PBI-Colombia accompanies NOMADESC at commemoration of those killed at national strike protest in Siloé, Cali

On October 4, PBI-Colombia posted: “During the weekend we accompanied @Nomadesc [the Association for Research and Social Action] at the commemoration of the May 3 massacre in Siloé, Cali within the framework of the #ParoNacional [national strike].”

Amnesty International has reported that on May 3 “in an incursion called ‘Operation Siloé’, National Police officers, together with members of ESMAD [riot police] and the Special Operations Group of the National Police of Colombia (GOES), used lethal weapons, including Tavor 5.56mm rifles, against peaceful protesters.”

“The community also reported the presence of soldiers from the National Army (by that date, President Iván Duque had already ordered the deployment of the military in the city).”

“That night, at least three deaths from gunshot wounds were recorded, among them that of the young man [21-year-old] Kevin Agudelo, and hundreds of people were injured and several arbitrarily detained.”

Amnesty adds: “The incidents documented were not isolated or sporadic, but rather reflect a pattern of violence on the part of the Colombian authorities, who have responded to the protest with stigmatization, criminalization, unlawful police repression and militarization.”

Just days after that massacre, PBI-Colombia tweeted on May 8: “PBI accompanies Berenice from @Nomadesc to the great mobilization of mothers and women of Cali and Valle del Cauca that is happening right now.”

At that time, the Colombian digital media platform Kienyke reported: “The call is made by the mothers of Cali who will take to the streets in rejection of the murders of young people in the midst of social protest.”

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied NOMADESC since 2011 and its president Berenice Celeita since 1999.