A group of fifty demonstrators gathered this Friday in front of the hotel in Bogota in which the Ibero-American right celebrates the Forum Madridpromoted by the Spanish far-right Vox party, in a protest that led to clashes with the security forces.
With cries of “they will not pass” and “Bogota it will be the tomb of fascism”, the group of far-left demonstrators gathered at the gates of the Radisson Hotel, guarded by police.
Although the rally started peacefully, after a few moments of tension, the protesters threw stones and paint at the building and broke the windows with a hammer.
The response of the security forces, which also had the support of the Mobile Anti-riot Squad (Esmad), caused the protesters to flee.
The calls to protest before the celebration of this event were announced days ago by the organization RASH Bogotá and the Antifascist Coordinator in rejection of the Spanish party Vox and its “xenophobic, sexist and classist practices”.
“Vox represents the spearhead of international neo-fascism,” representatives of the organizers of the protest explained to Efe, who insisted that “Colombia has the possibility of changing course and having a new political project”.
In addition, they added that “they do not agree that the Police is protecting international fascism”, while they denied any relationship with Colombian politicians, after the organization of the Madrid Forum accused the left-wing presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, favorite in the polls, of being behind the calls for demonstrations.
“As in anti-Francoist Madrid, we now say: Bogota It will be the tomb of fascism,” they said.
The Madrid Forum defines itself as “an international alliance that includes all those people who, regardless of their ideology, share the defense of freedom, democracy and the rule of law”.
In this sense, it has the objective of “raising awareness about the advance of the extreme left and its failed system of government, as well as counteracting the strategies of the Sao Paulo Forum and the Puebla Group”.
The event is organized by the Disenso Foundation, whose president is the general secretary of Vox, Santiago Abascal.
Event in Colombia
“Before a scheduled, peaceful meeting (…) here come people who come to talk to us about this new communism throwing stones,” Vox deputy Víctor González, one of the participants in the so-called Madrid Forum, told AFP.
Sponsored by that political formation, the event takes place this weekend with the assistance of right-wing supporters from Colombia, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, and Cuban dissidents, among others.
According to González, in its first edition, the forum seeks to “fight against communism” in Latin America.
“It is our obligation as Spaniards to come and defend our uses, our customs (…) against the hatred between brothers that the Sao Paulo Forum“, a platform that brings together various movements of the Latin American left that the new forum sponsored by Vox intends to “counteract,” explained the deputy.
It was precisely the electoral situation that brought the unprecedented right-wing forum to Bogotá. “We come to Colombia because it is the next great battle. Petro is a very dangerous candidate,” González launched.
The former M-19 guerrilla militant proposes reforms to the police and the financial system in a country shaken by massive protests against the government and the public force since 2019.
It also ensures that it will suspend oil exploration, the country’s main export, to bet on renewable energy sources.
The left “wants Colombia to fall (as) it has fallen ChileTertsch said, referring to the victory of leftist Gabriel Boric in the southern country’s presidential elections last year.
González assured that Vox “has found enormous support” in Colombia, Chile and Peru, where the leftist has governed since 2021 peter castle. Four opposition deputies to his government participate in the forum.
“There is a (right-wing) movement and this is beginning to take on the inertia of confrontation and resistance,” warned the Spaniard. (EFE and AFP)
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