Colombia’s national government on Tuesday expressed fierce criticism over striking judicial workers, saying that “while soldiers and policemen are risking their lives, others are striking.”
The comment was made by Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon who rejected the strike on Caracol Radio, saying that the judicial branch’s four-week strike is undoing the labor of by the security forces.
“The security forces increasingly arrest all kinds of criminals, but for these arrests to make sense you need the judicial branch not just to prosecute, but also take the right decision,” Pinzon said.
“The security forces are doing their duty; those soldiers and policemen are giving their lives, while others [are carrying out] activities of strikes and things like that,” the Minister said.
The striking judicial workers and the government have been unable to reach a deal about a wage rise of judicial workers whose strike has further clogged Colombia’s already overloaded justice system.