Colombia’s capital Bogota on Saturday welcomed dawn after a night of terror, carried out in apparent collusion with the police.
In a video message, Bogota Mayor Enrique Peñalosa told residents around midnight that the violence was part of “an orchestrated campaign to create terror.”
Bogota Police commander Mayor General Hoover Penilla, whose subordinates were filmed while taking part in the violence, only barely kept a straight face when Peñalosa told residents to “not fall in this terror trap.”
“THIS IS A STATE SET-UP,” immediately trended on Twitter as only few were able to sleep.
How to terrorize a city
President Ivan Duque. (Image: President’s Office)
The violence began earlier on Friday as Colombia entered its second day of national protests against the government of President Ivan Duque.
In response to the violence, the president and Peñalosa agreed to impose a curfew and to call in the military.
At around 8PM, Duque took to television to announce that he would seek increased military involvement and intelligence to “increase security” in all of Colombia.
Four hours later, Peñalosa said the sudden outburst of violence in Bogota was a trap.
What state terrorism looks like
As videos uploaded to social media made evident, the people of Bogota were treated to an almost unimaginable night of terror.
In some neighborhoods, neighbors armed themselves with tools and sticks to defend their property against the groups of thugs that were roaming around.
Neighbors apprehended, stripped and nearly lynched at least one man.
In multiple of the videos, police were seen breaking and tapping windows.
One couple claimed police were recruiting homeless people and telling them to look for bricks.
At least Bogota residents reported that the were transported in police trucks.
In one case, a resident reported police “are taking them on their motorbikes, with helmet and everything.”
In another video, police let at least five people out of a van while the curfew was in force.
When the sun came up, many were enraged about why their own security forces were involved in what the mayor called an “orchestrated campaign to create terror.”