Colombia’s Crisis Is a Warning

Over the last two weeks, protests against a tax reform proposed by the Colombian government have left dozens of people dead, injured hundreds more, and brought much of the country to a standstill. At least 15 people have been killed in Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, where more than 10,000 troops and police officers are fighting rioters who’ve barricaded the main highway, burned buses and attacked police stations. The violence threatens the stability of South America’s second-most-populous democracy and a key partner in the U.S.’s war against drug trafficking. It also underscores the urgent need to help Latin America return to growth and bring the pandemic under control.

The coronavirus has devastated Colombia’s economy, which had been the fastest-growing in South America. In response to the outbreak, President Ivan Duque imposed a strict national lockdown while introducing a program of direct aid payments to 3 million poor households, including 1 million without bank accounts. Those measures have largely failed to alleviate the country’s suffering. Its economy contracted by 6.8% in 2020, pushing some 2.8 million more Colombians into extreme poverty. The share of the population considered to be middle-class has shrunk to 25.4%, the lowest in a decade.