The Briefing
- Colombia's broadest opposition coalition in months — teachers, labor unions, feminist organizations, artists and indigenous communities — mobilized on October 14 in the most coordinated challenge yet to President Abelardo de la Espriella's 60-day-old government, chanting "Abelardo nos odia" in Bogotá and major cities across the country.
- Two days before the march, the president branded its organizers "instigators of evil, not fighters for freedom" in a nationally televised address, then signed a new social protest regulation decree the following day — moves critics say were designed to intimidate demonstrators rather than protect them.
- Wednesday's turnout is expected to directly shape the scale and timing of a national strike that Fecode and the CUT are organizing for November — with two dates, November 11 or 20, currently under consideration.
