Colombia's president deploys military to protest-hit city

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Colombian President Iván Duque on Friday announced the deployment of military forces to the city of Cali after at least three people died in increasingly violent protests and talks to end the social uprising stalled. “This deployment will almost triple our capacity throughout the province in less than 24 hours, ensuring assistance in nerve centers where we have seen acts of vandalism, violence and low-intensity urban terrorism,” said the president, speaking from Cali, the city in southwest Colombia that has become the epicenter of the nationwide antigovernment protests. José Miguel Vivanco, director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch, urged Duque to prohibit the use of firearms by state agents and said the organization had corroborated videos from Cali showing armed men in civilian clothing shooting. Juliette de Rivero, representative in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, called for an end to violence, also citing cases of “civilians shooting” in Cali.