By Irma Gallo
Photographer Manuel Ortiz Esc ez
Created in 1999 as a police force to control protests by coca growers in northern Colombia, the Thousand Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) bears the infamous reputation of being responsible for direct attacks against protesters that have left more than 300 people seriously injured since 2019.
The hallmark of this repression is the shooting, with rubber bullets, directly at people's faces with the intention of causing serious injuries to the eyes, which in many cases (especially, but not exclusively, to those belonging to the First League)1 in demonstrations) caused loss of vision or gain.
On November 23, 2019, an ESMAD agent shot Dilan Cruz, an 18-year-old student who was protesting to demand government guarantees for universal access to higher education. The bullet that hit the back of his head was made of a textile material filled with lead pellets. After his death, he became a victim of violence. s fight cake against official repression.
In 2021, Cristian Z ate, victim of one of these attacks, created the Movement in Resistance Against the Ocular Aggressions of the Thousand Anti-Riot Squad (MOCAO).
At the dawn of the new government headed by President Gustavo Petro and Vice President Francia Múquez Mina, in which many Colombians have placed their hope for a true transformation in terms of human rights, these are the testimonies of some of the members of MOCAO, collected in Bogotá at the end of May 20222.
Cristian Rodriguez Zate
From my critical point of view, from my reflection and indignation and also from the suffering, that in Colombia there are no guarantees for life, there are no fundamental rights, this leads me to join social movements and to carry out activism in the streets for six or seven years.
During the national strike on November 21, 2019, this whole phenomenon of police abuse began to take shape. And within this concept of police abuse there are several types, and one of them is ocular aggression. Already in 2019, 2020 and 2021, it is becoming clear that