Colombian President Ivan Duque said wednesday that he does not rule out decreeing the state of “inner shock” due to worsening public order in some cities in the country because of protests that leave at least 24 dead and more than 800 injured.
“Focused interior concussions have been applied in the past, I am not saying e-war or imminent, what I am saying is that we do not give up any tools given to us by the Constitution and the law to protect citizens,” Duque said in an interview with Blu Radio.
According to the Colombian Constitution, internal shock is a state of emergency that can be declared by the president when there are serious disturbances of public order that imminently conflict with institutional stability.
It also gives the representative exceptional powers with which he could even issue laws and decrees, among other matters.
Duque made these statements hours before thousands of Colombians took to the streets of the country again at the beginning of the second “national unemployment” protest against his government.
On the other hand, the head of state also said that he does not rule out meetings with political leaders and other sectors, being asked about an offer of mediator made to him yesterday by former President Juan Manuel Santos.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate on Tuesday expressed his readiness to meet with Duke to help seek way out of the crisis by social protests and police violence that shake the country,
“I’m not a bias person. A lot of people were telling me if I’d meet Rodrigo Londoño Timochenko (former chief of the former FARC guerrillas), I’ve met with him. If I’ve done it with him, how can I not meet with other political leaders? Conversation spaces cannot be closed,” Duke said.
The president said there are criminal hands behind mobs that have vandalized in recent days in cities like Bogota and Cali.
Bogota Secretary of Government Luis Ernesto Gómez reported that at least 72 civilians and 19 police officers were wounded in last night’s assault, in which vandalos attacked at least 23 police stations, one of which was set on fire with ten officers inside.
Police said that 25 Immediate Care Commandos (CAI) were attacked by mobs and that three of them were completely destroyed.
