Indigenous Protests Sow Chaos in Downtown Bogota, Colombia

Written on 04/03/2025
Josep Freixes
Indigenous protests in Colombia sow chaos this morning in downtown Bogota, where roads were blocked and buses were vandalized. Credit: Rosalba Tarazona, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Flickr.

Protests by a group of indigenous people from Colombia’s Misak community sowed chaos in downtown Bogota, starting a morning that dawned with road blockades and acts of vandalism against public transport.

The indigenous people have been camping for several days in the Plaza de Bolivar, from where they demand to meet with President Gustavo Petro. Spokespersons of the encamped people stated that the government is not fulfilling its commitments and demand an improvement in their living conditions.

Indigenous protests sow chaos in downtown Bogota, Colombia

Members of the Misak indigenous community, which occupies a large part of the Plaza Bolivar in the center of the Colombian capital, sowed chaos this morning in downtown Bogota.

In an escalation of their protests, a group of about thirty people blocked several main roads and vandalized public transport buses, including the TransMilenio system, buses that hundreds of thousands of people commute with daily in the capital.

The blockades began in the early hours of the morning of Thursday, April 3, affecting mobility on Career Tenth and Jimenez Avenue, one of the main arteries of the historic center of the capital.

Protesters used the buses as barricades, puncturing their tires and graffitiing their bodies. In some cases, the vehicles also had broken windows, causing panic among passengers and creating a tense atmosphere in the streets.

At least five TransMilenio stations in downtown Bogota remained closed for several hours, causing significant delays and disrupting the mobility of thousands of people at an already difficult morning commute.

Representatives of the indigenous peoples indicated that their protest seeks to pressure the government to comply with previously acquired commitments, related to improvements in their living conditions and access to basic services.

Faced with the magnitude of the situation, the police responded with their riot control unit, which managed to disperse the demonstrators.

Bogota Mayor’s Office demanded the government act against protesters

After several days of camping in public spaces—a situation that has occurred before, when another indigenous group occupied the National Park in the capital for months—local authorities in Bogota urged President Petro’s government to take action and evict the protesters.

In this regard, the city’s Security Secretary, César Restrepo, stated in an interview with local media W Radio that, although local authorities have exhausted the dialogue phase with these communities, they are limited by current protocols, which require authorization from the Ministry of the Interior for the National Police to intervene.

Restrepo remarked that “for the city the dialogue stage ended more than thirty minutes ago and we have requested the intervention.”

The Secretary of Security of Bogota explained to the above mentioned media that the management of the anti-riot system in Colombia has been complicated by regulations imposed after the social outbreak of 2021, during the presidency of Ivan Duque.

These protocols ensure that there are no additional risks, such as the presence of minors or dangerous materials, before giving the green light to police intervention. “The Ministry of Interior must declare that the stage of dialogues has been exhausted so that the National Police can act,” indicated Restrepo.

Indigenous people deny violence described by the Mayor’s Office

A spokesmen for the indigenous community denied the accusations of violence. In a dialogue with the same radio station, the indigenous vice-governor John Almentra Tombé affirmed that their actions are not intended to attack or disturb the inhabitants of Bogota.

“We have no reason to attack innocent citizens,” he stated, adding that their only demand is that the government of President Gustavo Petro establish effective dialogues with the communities.

Almentra Tombé also criticized the indifference of local and national authorities to their precarious conditions. “We arrived on Monday and so far no one has offered us even water. We have not seen the mayor or the president,” he said, noting that the community has been forced to protest in this way because of a lack of sustained attention.

However, there are multiple reports of violence and security risks. As reiterated by officials quoted by W Radio, in the improvised encampment in the Plaza de Bolivar there are dangerous practices such as the simultaneous use of gas pipes and wood fires. “This creates an extreme risk of disaster for everyone,” warned the Security Secretariat.