Colombia’s striking farmers have called for a national protest in the country’s main squares to pressure the government into fulfilling deals reached with them eight months ago.
The farmers are hoping that teachers, students, workers, and social organisations will support them in asking for a change to the economic system which they say is keeping them in bankruptcy, reported Prensa Latina.
The leader of the farmers association, Agricultural Dignity, Cesar Pachon, who on Wednesday failed to meet an agreement with the government to end the strikes, called for a day of action because, “the government should honor [its agreement] and not harm anymore farmers.”
Mañana 8 de Mayo a las 6pm #CacerolazoSumerce porque el gobierno debe cumplir y no lastimar más campesinos! pic.twitter.com/8r8rf6cicS
— César Pachón Achury (@CesarPachonAgro) Mayo 8, 2014
On Wednesday the government and farmers failed to reach an agreement to end the strikes after the parties could not finalize the issue of refinancing the debts of small farmers.
MORE: Colombia’s government and farmers suspend strike talks
The protesting farmers are hoping that the Colombian government will take them seriously and are asking for United Nations observers to be at the negotiating table as a controlling body.
Colombian farmers and miners began their first day of national strikes in late April over the government’s alleged failure to comply with promises made after similar strikes in August 2013 that left five dead, and hundreds hospitalized or in jail.
Sources
- Campesinos colombianos en paro convocan a cacerolazo nacional (Prensa Latina)