The incident in Bogotá is reminiscent of the death of the black American George Floyd, who was also killed by police violence. In the case of Javier Ordoñez, while not racism was at the root, but “a police culture and a corrupt system that rewards abuse of power”, as lawyer and activist Alejandro Lanz puts it on BBC Mundo. Lanz co-leads an NGO that investigates the abuse of power by the police in Colombia.
The Colombian police has a bad reputation in this area. In recent years, there have been several incidents and scandals. For example, an 18-year-old young man was killed by police bullets during one of the massive anti-government rallies that took place late last year. In 2011, a young street performer was shot dead by the police while shooting graffiti. At the beginning of this year, the UN drew attention to murders and abuse by military and police in Colombia.
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