(Vatican Radio) A demonstration in Bogota's main plaza combined a mishmash of farmers,
students, teachers, health workers and trouble makers. Masked youths clashed with
riot police, who responded with drenching water cannon and volleys of tear gas.
Colombia's
President Juan Manuel Santos has appealed for an end to violence and a way forward
with dialogue. Yet eleven days since the farmers started disruption via road blocks
across the country, talks between their leaders and Government negotiators, remain
mired in deadlock.
The famers says harsh current conditions are driving them
to bankruptcy and despair, especially due to floods of cheap competing goods, following
free trade agreements with Europe and the United States, which are also driving up
fuel and production costs.
The Government is promising cheaper fertilisers,
better prices for home produced goods and more affordable loans. But so far, this
hasn't gone far enough to resolve a spreading and deepening crisis.