By Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360]
Almost three months since the protests and the national strike in Colombia began due to a protest against a tax reform bill, hundreds of young protesters have been killed allegedly by the police and the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (Esmad), however, their dreams and ideals are still there, alive and united with those of thousands who seek a better country.
This is how "Yor PL" narrated it, a young man of 27 years old, part of the "First Line" made up of young people who are at the front lines ready to fight repression, with the hope that things will improve for all of Colombia.
In an interview with Peninsula 360 Press, Yor PL said that in the marches there are different lines ready to combat repression.
"In a few words, the first line are the young people or people who are there to defend the protest. Because whenever there is a social protest and the masses advance, there are the Esmad forces, which are the riot police. These people are there to, according to them, prevent disturbances from forming, but without the need for that, they enter to repress in order to prevent the marches from advancing, as was seen on April 28 in Cali," Yor said.
In the second line, there are young people who return gas and carry stones in a defensive way, not as an attack but as a method of defense. Third line, they are with lasers and other forms of harassment so as not to be attacked, in addition to carrying milk to avoid the burning sensation generated by tear gas.
Recalling the first attacks by the authorities on the demonstrators, he stressed that there was a lot of damage to public property, caused by the indignation of a people.
"I am not saying that we are to blame for everything, but when the masses rise up many who want to leave their message, many come out with spray cans to write signs like 'narco-state', 'killer police', 'killer Esmad', 'killer Duque killer', and the cause of everything is the bad government that we have lived for many years.
Throughout these months, Yor assures that Colombia is going through a period of social repression where the police are hated by many in the community.
"I am a young man who, personally, does not feel like attacking the police, does not feel like attacking the Esmad. When I go out to the front line I don't go out to fight, I go out to resist, to resist that repression. I am the bearer of a voice that fights for love.
Yor made it clear that the struggle will not become an armed struggle "for anything in the world," since the young people are only looking for opportunities to fulfill their dreams and become entrepreneurs, students, workers, parents and children who can give something to their parents.
"They repress us because we are standing up against processes such as the tax reform, because we are fighting against rights violations such as the beatings of young people when they are captured, beatings that are not only carried out during protests, but during all these years, the police abuse their power. They repress us because we stood up against the health care reform, against the labor and pension reform," he said.
Love is the strength of our struggle
"I am not here out of hatred. I am here for love, for love of justice, for love of prosperity, for love of children, for love of our dreams: to be able to buy a house, to be able to live with dignity, to be able to die and know that we left something to the generations that come after us.
However, things have not looked good in several ways, young people that Yor knew on the front line have been disappeared or killed. The authorities label them as guerrillas, vandals, destroyers, a situation that has divided society and turned many against them.
If only we could all die of old age and not from a bullet.
"I am preparing for death," Yor replies. "If I am alive it is by the grace of God, but many comrades have fallen in combat, and how sad to know that at 27 years of age or younger young people are prepared to die, and not even by a natural death, but by one provoked by the public forces".
"If I'm afraid of dying, I can't describe it, I can't answer that question as such, but my answer is: I'm preparing for when it's my turn. We all go out not knowing if we are going to return to our homes. Death is inevitable, but I wish we could all die of old age and not be killed by a bullet.
Resisting for change. The outpost.
For Yor PL everyone is waiting for a change, the fight is for it. The resistance is for it. Even though their spirits have often dropped, the thought of real change fills them with energy and motivation to not give up and to leave a better country for future generations.
Faced with the situation, all the front lines of Colombia are preparing an advance guard that will leave from the extremes of the country, and that will seek to travel through every town and city along its main roads in order to gather the demands of each place and take them to the capital, Bogota, where the political powers are gathered.
Without guarantees of security or that things will go as they plan, they do not intend to advance the idea or their ideals of changing the country.
"We have no guarantors. Nothing guarantees that they are going to let us get to Bogotá alive because the government here is genocidal and oppressive, the truth is that they are murderers first hand and it doesn't hurt them to kill people after they are given an order. So we have no guarantees to make this advance because we could be massacred on the road because they label us as guerrillas.
Yor is well aware of what it takes to fight for these ideals. The situation and the dozens of disappeared people have forced them to cover their faces so as not to be one more of those who are detained and never heard from again, or who wake up in bags on the side of the road. They try not to be a "military target.
The front lines expect around 5,000 people to participate in the advance, but at this point and with the imminent dangers, nothing is certain.
"We know that if we don't finish this struggle and we don't achieve justice, all of us who are part of the protests will be killed and persecuted, they will want to raid us and they will want to disappear us. We are young people with dreams," Yor said in tears.
The advance party intends to deliver three petitions upon arrival in Bogotá:
The first is to be able to open dialogue tables with the national government to reach an agreement where all the territories and localities of Colombia are attended to through demands.
The second is to request the resignation of the president, Ivan Duque, and that the elections be brought forward by 3 months.
And the third, to reach zero impunity and demand justice for the murdered, where the full weight of the law falls on those who gave the order to execute the hundreds of young people who demonstrated.
Yor, with a firm voice, asks international organizations and the international community not to abandon them and to accompany the peaceful protests.
To the international media "that they dare to continue interviewing the people who are in the middle of the framework, that they can cover the national advance because it is really something that we want to do, and we are going to do it, with or without guarantors: we are going to take the risk because we have nothing to lose here.
Yor does not say goodbye without first reminding the people of Colombia that "do not give up, do not stop dreaming of a just country, with a social change that is necessary, with a dignified life. Don't stop uniting, don't be afraid because we are on the right side.
This July 28th will mark 3 months since the movement began, and for Yor the end is uncertain and undated.
"I follow my struggle, but if you talk to me about a socio-political struggle, I don't see myself as a politician. I have dreams, I want to be an artist and I'm always going to defend the issue of the community through art and culture. I'm willing to continue fighting on the front line until the end. Until when? Until victory, until where? Until death if necessary.
"I am one of those who think that by changing a mind and a heart, I have made a revolution".
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