Why Colombia’s militarised police need reform
The killing of an ordinary citizen has provoked violent protests, and demands for change
EARLY ON SEPTEMBER 9TH police in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, arrested Javier Ordóñez, a taxi driver and father of two, for drinking alcohol in the street. A video that went viral shows two officers pinning him down. One pressed his knee against Mr Ordóñez’s back and tasered his hips. The officers stopped the filming, but witnesses say that Mr Ordóñez was unconscious when they took him to the nearest police station. He died hours later.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Fight crime, not war”
From the September 19th 2020 edition
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