Protests in Colombia
On May 21, the Interamerican Dialogue organized a panel on social protests in Colombia. There were four Colombian panelists: Catalina Botero, Dean of the Universidad de los Andes School of Law; Paula Moreno, president of Manos Invisibles and former minister of culture; Alejandro Santos, Director of Radio Caracol, and Maurice Armitage, former mayor of Cali. Each of them presented their analysis of the situation, including the possible causes of such a strident eruption, and alluded to potential strategic directions that could be tried to overcome the pitfalls. What follows is an analytical summary, from a regional perspective. From the beginning, the panel linked the reactions to the protest with what they identified as one of the pillars of the "Colombian imaginary"; one that conceives the country's problems from the perspective of a friend-enemy binary scheme. A narrative influenced by the long history of hard and fierce conflicts that have marked national life...