Colombia: Teachers, Students, Truck Drivers on Demonstrations

Colombia's largest cities Friday are the scene of protests against President Ivan Duque performed by students, teachers, and truck drivers. 

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Initially, truck drivers' claims were motivated by restrictions on vehicular traffic in Bogota, a city that limited the circulation of trucks to those vehicles below 20 years of use. 

Although such a policy has environmental protection objectives, it represents the disablement of some vehicles, which harms trucker’s livelihoods.

The Colombian Association of Student Representatives (Acrees) president Jose Cardenas announced that public and private colleges will join the unions' demonstrations. 

The Colombian Federation of Education Workers (Fecode) requests more guarantees to protect teachers' lives given that more than a thousand teachers had been murdered over the last 30 years.

“Eleven educators were killed in 2018 and 14 in 2019. So far this year one teacher was murdered in Arauca”, Cardenas said.

Besides demanding the accomplishment of prior agreements, the Colombian citizens are asking President Ivan Duque to renegotiate the truck's circulation measures. 

According to Fecode president Nelson Alarcon, more than 300 thousand professors will participate in the demonstrations in Bogota and in other cities such as Bucaramanga, Cali, and Medellin.