Protests After the Killing of Javier Ordóñez
Video of the killing of lawyer Javier Ordoñez by police officers ignites intense protests in Colombia’s major cities (Wikimedia Commons)
Protests broke out in the streets of Colombia’s main cities after a video revealed Bogotá police officers torturing and killing Javier Ordóñez with electric shocks on the night of September 7. The forensic report showed that Ordóñez had 9 cranial fractures and several other injuries that indicate that Ordóñez was beaten at the police station, where he was taken after the video was recorded.
Javier Ordóñez was a 43-year-old lawyer who, on his way to purchase alcoholic beverages with his friends, was stopped by the police. According to the police officers involved, Ordóñez reacted violently, “constituting an attack to a public server”: a narrative that differs from that presented by friends of the victim and bystanders.
The video appeared after multiple women have come forward over the past couple of months to denounce both sexual abuse at police stations and reports of military members raping indigenous children. Every day for the last three months, Colombians have woken up to the news of massacres of indigenous communities, black youth, social leaders, and women in rural areas. The killing of Ordoñez was a catalyst for a social reckoning.
National strikes, protests, and police brutality have been taking place in Colombia since the end of 2019, following dissent against economic and social policies put forward by Colombian President Ivan Duque. The pandemic put a pause to protests that the killing of Ordoñez has now reignited.
The initially non-violent protests following the death of Ordoñez quickly turned destructive; protestors burnt down 48 police stations in Bogotá, including the police station where Ordóñez was killed. The violent exchange between protestors and police officers has resulted in 13 deaths, more than 300 wounded, looting, and the destruction of public spaces.
The situation seems to have reopened wounds from Colombia’s history of violent conflict. Many argue that this new chain of events has further demonstrated the ruthlessness of Colombia’s security forces. Colombia’s police forces are not a civil entity—they operate under the control of the Ministry of Defense, a consequence of Colombian war between the government, guerrillas, and paramilitary groups.
Cases of human rights violations and police brutality are not judged in civil courts but military ones. Although several cases have been reported by the mayor of Bogotá, just a few of them have been noted by the Ministry of Defense. Claudia López, mayor of Bogotá and member of the political opposition, has stated that “a structural reform regarding the recruitment, capacitation, and the investigation of cases of police brutality” is urgent. However, Duque has denied any possible reform, claiming that it is a case of only a few “rotten apples” within the police force.
On the other hand, some but powerful people have been quick to condemn the protests. Colombian Minister of Defense, Carlos Trujillo, has said that the protesters, which are mainly members of the political opposition, have been infiltrated by guerrilla groups and need to be stopped. Some have seen these claims as a return to old discourse that shines a light on the difficulties to achieve stability in a country where institutions have developed alongside armed conflict.