Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Friday that Colombia will deploy troops to Bogota following violent protests in the city.
Santos decided to deploy the troops after two people died following a clash between the police and the protestors, BBC reports. In a televised address, Santos said, “Last night, I ordered the militarisation of Bogota and I will do the same today in any municipality or area that needs the presence of our soldiers.”
According to CNN, the protests started with a farmers strike on August 19, with farmers across Colombia demanding government support and credits, claiming they could not compete with big agricultural businesses. Throughout the protests, vandals have smashed and damaged property, although Santos had made clear the vandals were not farmers, but rather individuals seeking to take advantage of the circumstances “to create chaos and destruction and damage public and private property.”
However, despite the vandals, Ariel Avila, a Colombian political activist assured that the “social movement has not been infiltrated.”
Photo courtesy of Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom, Wikimedia Commons