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June 13th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : As the teachers’ strike in Colombia completes one month, riot police in the capital Bogota used water cannons and tear gas against the protesting teachers.
Riot police (ESMA) in the capital Bogota cracked down against rallying teachers using water cannons, tear gas, and when protesters were isolated and removed from all-too-public view, batons and fists.
The crackdown came as the strike has lasted one month. Bogota’s Mayor Enrique Penalosa, on Friday, tried to mitigate the political consequences of the brutal crackdown – and some say he tried to save his political career – when he appeared to show understanding for the teachers but took a hard-liner approach with regard to protests when he said:
“I offer apologies in the name of the State to the teachers that left abused and hurt, but it is also important to clarify that we are not going to permit the blocking of public transit.”
On Saturday, the government published a decree that raised teachers salaries by 8.75%. However, the teachers union Fecode stressed that the problems aren’t only related to wages, and that they would remain on strike. The strikes started a month ago after the government and teachers failed to reach an agreement during negotiations in the first week of March.
Teachers and unions had been rather unwilling to engage in yet another compromise since many of the key promises that prompted them to end previous strikes still haven’t been kept. Besides higher salaries and bonuses that teachers’ union demanded more investment in education infrastructure. Among other demands there are calls for improvement of the quality of school meals, and not least, the recognition of previous agreements.
Education Minister Yaneth Giha denounced the teachers’ decision to strike “unjustified,” while Fecode President Carlos Rivas said “it doesn’t seem logical that there isn’t funding available for education when there’s money for corruption.” Speaking to the teachers strike earlier this month, President Santos said, “we can’t give [the teachers] what they want because we don’t have the resources.”
Slow recovery after the oil prices slumped in 2014, plus rampant tax evasion and systemic nepotism aggravated the situation. The government has struggled to balance its 2017 budget. According to data from the OECD, Colombia ranks poorly in educational outcome and second to last in educational funding with no more than $3,300 per student. 73.8% of Colombian high school graduates perform poorly in math. 51.4% fail to reach a proficient reading and writing level and 56.2% are insufficient in science. Overall, 43% of Colombian students failed to learn reach a proficient level of education compared to post-high school youth in other countries.
CH/L – nsnbc – nsnbc 12.06.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/06/12/colombias-riot-police-cracks-down-on-teachers/
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