In Cali they protest against paralysis of works in public schools - Cali - Colombia

Of the 25 schools that the Educational Infrastructure Financing Fund (FFIE) announced it was going to build in Cali and Buenaventura, only three were completed. Yesterday, the educational communities of two of those schools protested to ask what happened to the works?

(You can read: Families of 2 friends ask for help to find them in Pance in Cali)

One of the schools is the Cristóbal Colón Educational Institution (IE), located in the Mariano Ramos neighborhood, east of Cali. There, teachers, parents and students held a sit-in to make their voices heard. This community asks why the reconstruction of the Social Welfare headquarters, whose works began five years ago, is not yet ready.

“They sold us the idea that the project had all the security conditions to be executed in the shortest time possible. The officials of the Fund came from Bogotá to socialize the implementation of the long-awaited dream, presenting it to us, as the infrastructure work, not only the most modern in Colombia, but also the safest in contractual terms,” ​​the professors recalled.

On that occasion they were assured that the works would be delivered within eight months. It should be noted that the FFIE is part of the Ministry of Education.

However, the contractors have defaulted and left the works abandoned. The works were 35% complete and are paralyzed, according to the Secretary of Education of Cali.

(You may be interested: Cali as a District could have up to seven minor mayors)

While the college is being rebuilt, students have gone from side to side to receive classes. The Mayor’s Office of Cali leased a building where they currently receive classes. “Property, which although it is true is notoriously better than the previous one, it is also true that it presents a series of complexities that make the provision of educational services for our Children and Adolescents, a continuous risk of biosecurity”, say the teachers .

They will follow up

The Secretary of Education of Cali, José Darwin Lenis, spoke yesterday with the educational community of IE Cristóbal Colón, and they agreed that a committee will be formed to monitor and oversee the school’s infrastructure works.

In addition, next April 22, a meeting will be held with delegates from the Ministry of Education and the FFIE, in which the date for restarting the works will be defined.

Similar decisions were made during a meeting at the IE El Diamante, where there are not even designs for the works.

(Also read: They order the dismantling of a structure without a license in La Sagrada Familia in Cali)

The non-compliance of the contractors who were given the works of the schools in Cali has been going on for years. In 2019, the Comptroller’s Office, through the Departmental Management of Valle del Cauca, convened a table of stakeholders from Buenaventura and Cali, to allow them to take on the problems of the 25 schools that were prioritized in the process, in these cities.

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Educational community protest for unfinished school works - Cali - Colombia

With a sit-in, the educational community of the Cristóbal Colón Institution, Social Welfare headquarters, demanded this Thursday morning the reconstruction of their school, a work that should have started five years ago, in the Mariano Ramos neighborhood.

(You can read: Cali as a District could have up to seven minor mayors)

“They sold us the idea that the project had all the security conditions to be executed in the shortest time possible. Officials from the Educational Infrastructure Fund came from Bogotá to socialize the implementation of the long-awaited dream, presenting it to us, as the infrastructure work, not only the most modern in Colombia, but also the safest in contractual terms,” ​​said the community, who grew tired of the breaches.

On that occasion they were assured that the works would be delivered within eight months.

However, according to the community, the first contractor who undertook the reconstruction of the school, failed to comply and left the work abandoned.

(We recommend: They order the dismantling of structures without a license in La Sagrada Familia in Cali)

While the college is being rebuilt, students have passed from side to side to receive classes.

The Mayor’s Office of Cali leased a building where classes are currently held. “Property, which although it is true is notoriously better than the previous one, it is also true that it presents a series of complexities that make the provision of educational services for our Children and Adolescents a continuous biosafety risk.”

Given the current situation, the educational community proposes to start, starting next week, “the peak and plate strategy by degrees, in order to reduce by a
percentage the amount of population and thus manage to improve something, the difficulties of overcrowding that occur in the building“, and postpone the start of the single day until the conditions for improvement in the building are met, which lacks sufficient sanitary batteries.

CALI

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Ukrainians protest against the war in Ukraine in front of the Russian Embassy in Bogotá

BOGOTA COLOMBIA). Saturday, February 26, 2022 (RPTV NEWS AGENCY). Ukrainians and Colombians held a sit-in in front of the Russian embassy in Bogotá, against the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began at dawn on Thursday and has already left hundreds dead and hundreds displaced.

With a large Ukrainian flag, which was held by several people, the protesters stood in front of the headquarters of the Russian diplomatic delegation in Colombia. Likewise, the attendees also showed banners with messages such as “no to the war in Ukraine”, “stop the war in Ukraine” and “no to war, not to Putin”.

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2021

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Protest of merchants in Barranquilla for extortions - Barranquilla - Colombia

The protest carried out today by the shopkeepers and other merchants of Barranquilla, in addition to the closure of their businesses, includes a mobilization, having as a meeting point the Plaza de la Paz, from the 9:00 in the morning.

Afterwards, the merchants and those who decide to accompany them will march along Carrera 44 and reach Paseo Bolívar, where they will remain in front of the building of the District Mayor’s Office.

At the headquarters of the Mayor’s Office, the affected merchants will file a document, with which they hope to receive attention from the National Government, according to what was announced by Dina Luz Pardo, Director of Asocentro.

From the first hours, despite the announcements, many Barranquilla residents were surprised by the closure of thousands of businesses, mainly stores, in the five locations of the Atlantic capital.

A hundred small and large businesses have been affected. According to the National Union of Merchants (Undeco) sectional Atlántico, more than 100 establishments commercials have been sold very cheaply, because the owner cannot resist the pressure.

(Find out: The neighborhoods of Barranquilla that will not have electricity service this Thursday)

The panorama is so complex that not only are shopkeepers who have announced their participation in the demonstration, but they have also been joined by restaurants, hairdressers, barbershops, pharmacies, miscellaneous stores and clothing and footwear stores.

fear of denouncing

75 percent of extortion cases are not being reported out of fear, out of fear, because there have been deaths

Vice President of Undeco, Orlando Jimenez, He acknowledged that the authorities are doing their job and capturing those responsible for these extortions, but the problem remains if complaints are not made.

“75 percent of extortion cases are not being reported out of fear, out of fear, because there have been deaths, injuries, because businesses have been shot at. People denounce, they capture the guy and after two months he is on the street, then it is worse, ”says the leader.

(See: Masks will no longer be mandatory in open spaces in Barranquilla)

Among other data provided by this union, it is found that 90 percent of merchants in Soledad and Malambo are paying extortion, in Barranquilla more than 50 business have been closed and cases have increased since the second half of 2019.

“The merchants tell us that they are willing to pay the extortionists monthly up to 70,000 pesos to let them work, that’s not right. But they pay that fee and another criminal organization appears that asks them 20 million and 10 million pesos,” says Jiménez.

Police response

Within the prevention activities, we have carried out 38 sessions, 45 conferences, through the support of the different unions, such as the Chamber of Commerce, Andi, Asaba, Undeco and Asopartes

Precisely this Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police of Barranquilla, through the Gaula, launched in the Barranquillita sector of the city center, the QR code strategy for merchants to report cases of extortion.

According to the commander of the Atlantic Gaula, Major Diego Molina 249 extortionists have been captured and every two days there is an arrest in the metropolitan area of ​​the city for this crime.

“Within the prevention activities, we have carried out 38 sessions, 45 conferences, through the support of the different unions, such as the Chamber of Commerce, Andi, Asaba, Undeco and Asopartes. We invite citizens to report by line 165 or our QR code, “said Major Molina.

In a balance delivered by the Barranquilla Mayor’s Office and the Metropolitan Police, they indicated that, of each 100 extortions that have been presented in the capital of the Atlantic, especially against merchants, 96 have been clarified.

Based on the investigations, the authorities have carried out 65 raids, which have not only allowed the resolution of the cases but also dismantled gangs, captured those involved and seized firearms.

“Since 2021 there have been 27 big operations that have affected criminal groups with the capture or neutralization of their leaders,” said the commander of the Barranquilla Metropolitan Police, General Luis Hernández.

BARRANQUILLA

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US Truckers Plan Pandemic Protest, Inspired by Canadian Counterparts

Taking a cue from demonstrations that paralyzed Canada’s capital city for weeks, U.S. truckers on Wednesday plan to embark on a 2,500-mile (4,000-km) cross-country drive toward Washington D.C. to protest coronavirus restrictions.

Organizers of the “People’s Convoy” say they want to “jumpstart the economy” and reopen the country. Their 11-day trek will approach the Beltway around the U.S. capital on March 5 “but will not be going into D.C. proper,” according to a statement.

The Pentagon said on Tuesday it had approved 400 D.C. National Guard troops to “provide support at designated traffic posts, provide command and control, and cover sustainment requirements” from Feb. 26 through March 7.

About 50 large tactical vehicles were also approved to be placed at traffic posts.

Brian Brase, a truck driver who is one of the organizers, said regardless of where the trucks stop “we’re not going anywhere” until the group’s demands are met. Those demands include an end to COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements.

Most U.S. states are already easing some restrictions. In California, where the convoy begins, universal mask requirements were lifted last week while masks for vaccinated people are required only in high-risk areas such as public transit, schools and healthcare settings.

Another convoy was expected to leave Scranton, Pennsylvania – President Joe Biden’s hometown – on Wednesday morning and arrive on the 495 Beltway (highway) in Washington sometime during the afternoon.

Organizer Bob Bolus told WJLA news, an ABC affiliate in Washington, that his convoy has no intention to break laws or block traffic, but warned this could happen if their demands regarding pandemic mandates and the cost of fuel are not meant.

“They are not going to intimidate us and they are not going to threaten us. We’re the power, not them,” he said.

In Canada, pandemic-related protests choked streets in the capital Ottawa for more than three weeks and blocked the busiest land crossing between Canada and the United States – the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario – for six days.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked rarely used emergency powers to end the protests, and Canadian police restored a sense of normalcy in Ottawa over the weekend.

“We plan to stay a while and hope they don’t escalate it the way Trudeau did with his disgusting government overreach,” Brase said from Adelanto, California, where the convoy will begin, about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of Los Angeles.

Brase said he expected thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, would participate. Organizers bill the convoy as nonpartisan, trucker-led, and supported by a wide range of ethnic minorities and religious faiths.

Economic growth in the United States – as in other countries – was brought to a juddering halt by the imposition of lockdowns in 2020 to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The economy has boomed since the federal government pumped in trillions of dollars in relief, growing 5.7% in 2021, the strongest since 1984 albeit from a low ebb in 2020, the Commerce Department reported in January.

Meanwhile, unemployment stands at 4%, close to the 3.5% rate of February 2020, just before the pandemic took hold, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But headwinds related to strained supply chains and inflation remain.

“It is now time to reopen the country,” the protest organizers said in a statement.

Among other demands, the protesters want an immediate end to the state of emergency in California – the most populous U.S. state with one of the world’s largest economies -that Governor Gavin Newsom has extended.

Nationwide, new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations due to the coronavirus have plummeted from all-time highs hit a month ago, though nearly 2,000 people per day are still dying from the disease and the number of total deaths is closing in on 1 million since the pandemic began.

Protest in southern Cali due to security and justice situation - Cali - Colombia

Through a symbolic burial, residents of Ciudad Jardín staged a protest to draw attention to insecurity in the city.

For this they created a small cemetery in which they lamented the ‘burial’ of tranquility, security and justice, which according to the protesters must be recovered.
Everything was accompanied with candles and white flowers.

(You may be interested: Truck collided with power cables and knocked down poles in the center of Cali)

“We want to tell the Mayor that Cali needs security. We want to tell the judicial system that Cali needs the rules to be followed and to do their job because we cannot continue as we are”, expressed Martha Atehortúa, spokeswoman for the demonstration.

He also lamented the situation that the city is experiencing, which he considers a “go back in time”, which is why he asks the authorities to act more firmly.
Atehortúa stressed that the demonstration not only included residents of Ciudad Jardín, but also of Pance and surrounding areas.

Symbolically, residents of southern Cali protested the insecurity situation in the city.

Symbolically, residents of southern Cali protested the insecurity situation in the city.

Symbolically, residents of southern Cali protested the insecurity situation in the city.

“We want Cali to get ahead but putting order, prevailing the values ​​and rights of the community so that we can continue to get the best out of Cali and ourselves,” he added.

(Also read: Delays in the port of Buenaventura due to hacking of the Invima page)

Also present at the demonstration was the candidate for Congress, Gustavo Orozco, who called on the mayor of Cali, Jorge Iván Ospina, to “support the right of citizens to be calm and to have security.”

He demanded of the judicial system “that there be no impunity, specifically for people who destroy, frighten and commit crimes… that they pay. We need, among other things, that the people who participated in the destruction of Cali from the front line be condemned.”

CALI

Afghans Protest, Say Entire $7 Billion Held in US Belongs to Them

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — 

Demonstrators in Afghanistan’s capital Saturday condemned President Joe Biden’s order freeing up $3.5 billion in Afghan assets held in the U.S. for families of America’s 9/11 victims, saying the money belongs to Afghans.

Protesters gathered outside Kabul’s grand Eid Gah mosque asked America for financial compensation for the tens of thousands of Afghans killed during the last 20 years of war in Afghanistan.

Biden’s order, signed Friday, allocates another $3.5 billion in Afghan assets for humanitarian aid to a trust fund to be managed by the U.N. to provide aid to Afghans. The country’s economy is teetering on the brink of collapse after international money stopped coming into Afghanistan with the arrival in mid-August of the Taliban.

Afghanistan’s Central Bank called on Biden to reverse his order and release the funds to it, saying in a statement Saturday that they belonged to the people of Afghanistan and not a government, party or group.

Torek Farhadi, a financial adviser to Afghanistan’s former U.S.-backed government, questioned the U.N. managing Afghan Central Bank reserves. He said those funds are not meant for humanitarian aid but “to back up the country’s currency, help in monetary policy and manage the country’s balance of payment.”

He also questioned the legality of Biden’s order.

“These reserves belong to the people of Afghanistan, not the Taliban. … Biden’s decision is one-sided and does not match with international law,” Farhadi said. “No other country on Earth makes such confiscation decisions about another country’s reserves.”

White House officials said there is no simple way to make all the frozen assets available quickly to the Afghan people.

Victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and their families have legal claims against the Taliban and the $7 billion in the U.S. banking system. Courts would have to sign off before the release of humanitarian assistance money and decide whether to tap the frozen funds for paying out those claims.

In all, Afghanistan has about $9 billion in assets overseas, including the $7 billion in the United States. The rest is mostly in Germany, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.

“What about our Afghan people who gave many sacrifices and thousands of losses of lives?” asked the demonstration’s organizer, Abdul Rahman, a civil society activist.

Rahman said he planned to organize more demonstrations across the capital to protest Biden’s order.

“This money belongs to the people of Afghanistan, not to the United States. This is the right of Afghans,” he said.

Taliban political spokesperson Mohammad Naeem accused the Biden administration in a tweet late Friday of showing “the lowest level of humanity … of a country and a nation.”

Biden’s Friday order generated a social media storm with Twitter saying #USA_stole_money_from_afghan trending among Afghans. Tweets repeatedly pointed out that the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals, not Afghans.

Obaidullah Baheer, a lecturer at the American University in Afghanistan and a social activist, tweeted: “Let’s remind the world that #AfghansDidntCommit911 and that #BidenStealingAfgMoney!”

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was brought to Afghanistan by Afghan warlords after being expelled from Sudan in 1996. Those same warlords would later ally with the U.S.-led coalition to oust the Taliban in 2001. However, it was Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar who refused to hand over bin Laden to the U.S. after the devastating 9/11 attacks that killed thousands.

Still, some analysts took to Twitter to question Biden’s order.

Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the U.S.-based Wilson Center, called Biden’s order to divert $3.5 billion away from Afghanistan “heartless.”

“It’s great that $3.5B in new humanitarian aid for Afghanistan has been freed up. But to take another $3.5B that belongs to the Afghan people, and divert it elsewhere—that is misguided and quite frankly heartless,” he tweeted.

Kugelman also said the opposition to Biden’s order crossed Afghanistan’s wide political divide.

“I can’t remember the last time so many people of such vastly different worldviews were so united over a US policy decision on Afghanistan,” he tweeted.

Trucker-Led Protest Threatens Business in Canada, US

A trucker-led protest of coronavirus vaccine mandates that is blocking traffic at a key bridge linking the United States and Canada picked up urgency as it threatens to dampen business activity in both countries.

The protesters, who are demanding an end to Canada’s coronavirus restrictions, have blockaded the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit, Michigan, in the U.S. and Windsor, Ontario, Canada, bringing central Ottawa to a halt. The blockade prevented traffic from entering Canada Wednesday, but U.S.-bound traffic continued.

Trucks transport about 25% of all trade between the two countries across the bridge, much of which is linked to the automobile sector.

Canadian authorities have said they are increasingly concerned about the economic effects of the protest, which is inspiring similar protests in France, Australia and New Zealand.

FILE – Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Feb. 9, 2022.

“Blockages, illegal demonstrations are unacceptable, and are negatively impacting businesses and manufacturers,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned as he addressed the House of Commons Wednesday.

While the mayor of Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, declared a state of emergency Wednesday because of demonstrations there, police warned in a statement that protesters “must immediately cease further unlawful activity or you may face charges.”

FILE – People walk past parked trucks on Wellington Street during a demonstration against COVID-19 restrictions at Parliament House in Ottawa, Canada, on Jan. 29, 2022.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday the Biden administration was in close contact with Canadian officials and voiced concern the blockade could also affect the U.S. economy as it “poses a risk to supply chains, to the auto industry.”

Ford Motor Company spokesman Said Deep said Thursday the blockade has forced the automaker to reduce operations at its Ontario province plants in Oakville and Windsor, according to The New York Times.

On Wednesday, Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said the company will not be able to manufacture anything at three Canadian plants for the rest of this week because of the blockade.

Shortages due to the blockade also forced General Motors to cancel the second shift of the day Wednesday at a factory near Lansing, Michigan, in the U.S. GM spokesman Dan Flores said Wednesday the factory was expected to reopen on Thursday.

The blockade, which began nearly two weeks ago, has prompted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to issue a warning that a convoy of truckers could begin protests as early as this weekend in Los Angeles, California, the site of the National Football League’s Super Bowl, according to multiple reports.

CNN reports that DHS issued a bulletin to U.S. law enforcement agencies informing them the convoy would probably begin protests in California as early as mid-February and make their way across the U.S. to Washington as late as mid-March.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, and Reuters.

Antioquia: Miners and peasants from Buriticá went out to protest - Medellín - Colombia

Located in the West of AntiochBuriticá has been a municipality recognized for its mining potential, especially in terms of gold.

There is the company’s mine Zijin-Continental Goldone of the largest in the country and has the capacity to extract about 2,500 tons of material per day and produce up to 240,000 ounces of gold per year, according to the multinational.

However, this has generated discomfort in the small and medium ancestral miners of the municipality, who increasingly feel more displaced and relegated from the activity that generates their livelihood.

In the face of widespread discontent, They went out to protest this Wednesday, February 9 to the urban center of the town, requesting that a table for agreement and dialogue with the institutions be set up.

“This, in order to generate agreements with the different entities of the State that allow the defense of the territory and the exercise of mining on a small and medium scale, with respect for the environment, health and life in conditions worthy of community of Buriticá”, say the united communities of peasants, miners, urban and rural Buriticá.

(Keep reading: Women candidates for Congress from Antioquia seek to achieve more seats)

The concentration began at 8 in the morning in the main park of the municipality and, until now, the demonstration has remained peaceful.

Among the requests contained in the statement of the affected communities are:

– The legalization of informal miners (area transfer).

– The defense of water resources, that is, an aqueduct in the urban area and in some rural communities.

– No more processes of domain extinction

– The construction of a non-private rural road and the right to health of the Higabra community, where the Multinational is based.

– Cessation of exploration by the Multinational Zijin Continental Gold in the Serranía del viento, “where the waters of the municipality are born”.

– Compensation to the community of the Los Puesta village for damages caused by the exercise of large-scale mining (the disappearance of the La Mina creek, and other damages).

(Also read: Revocation of Quintero: Committee asks the CNE to expedite the delivery of the certificate)

MEDELLIN

Iran Teachers Protest New Pay Scales as Inflation Bites

Hundreds of teachers rallied in cities across Iran Thursday to protest against changes to their pay and pensions that come just as soaring prices hit their wallets, state media reported.

In Gilan province on the Caspian Sea coast, around 150 teachers marched in the city of Rasht, while another 70 did so in Lahijan, the state broadcaster reported.

Protesters chanted slogans such as “if embezzlement is reduced, our problems will be solved,” and “we only heard promises, we didn’t see justice”, it said.

In Iran’s third-largest city, Isfahan, around 300 teachers demonstrated, the Mehr news agency reported, adding that another protest was held in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari province in the southwest.

Social media platforms showed similar protests in Neyshabur in the northeast, Kermanshah in the west and Khorramshahr in the southwest.

The government wants to introduce a new grading system for teachers based on experience and performance.

The protesters are opposed to the way it will be implemented. They are also demanding that the government move more quickly to align pensions with the salaries of working teachers.

Hit by severe economic sanctions imposed since 2018 by the United States, Iran has seen inflation soar to close to 60%, exacting a heavy toll on the standard of living of public sector staff and others on fixed incomes.

Civil servants in one of Iran’s most powerful sectors, the judiciary, held rare demonstrations on Sunday against the government’s refusal to increase their pay.

On Monday, attorney general Mohammad Jafar Montazeri threatened to prosecute the protesters.

Ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi, who assumed his post in August, had proposed a salary hike in the last weeks of his previous job as judicial chief.

But the new government which he leads changed its mind.