Colombia General Discussion: Massacre with social criteria

[Estrella]

*tap tap* Is this thread on?

Some weeks ago, the Duque government (otherwise a very right-wing one) came up with a major plan for tax reform. Presented as a response to the soaring budget deficit (7% of GDP this year, 8% last year), it was basically a series of tax increases across the board, but the middle class and poor were hit the hardest: many tax breaks were eliminated, the threshold where salaries start to be taxes was significantly lowered, business taxes were increased and the categories of goods covered by VAT were expanded. Colombians' finances were hit very hard by the pandemic (not exactly helped by the joke that is the social security system) and the plan unsurprisingly triggered a massive wave of protests. Many demonstrations were organized by unions and were largely peaceful, but sometimes they devolved into violence and were met by a brutal police response that resulted in five deaths.

Now it seems that the government saw the writing on the wall. The Minister of Finance, Alberto Carrasquilla, resigned along with his deputy and Duque announced that parts of the reform are cancelled - most importantly, there won't be a sales tax on food, utilities and gasoline. Knowing uribistas, this happened not so much because of the protests but rather because the plan had no support even within the governing Centro Democrático, never mind other parties. Indeed, it seems that the government was prepared to use even more force to suppress the protests - the Minister of Defence said that "according to intelligence information, criminal and terrorist acts in Calí [third largest city in Colombia and the site of largest demonstrations] correspond to criminal organizations and terrorists" and 4000 troops were moved into the city.

Two years into his term, things aren't looking rosy for Iván Duque Porky Pig - his disapproval ratings are 60-70%, almost as bad as Santos towards the end of his second term.