The changes to reform the Esmad, the controversial riot squad of the Colombian Police

Related video: Young man denounces aggression by Colombian police officers 5:58 (CNN Spanish) — The Mobile Riot Squad (Esmad) of the Colombian Police could disappear as we know it until now. With the recently inaugurated government of Gustavo Petro, who promised a different approach in the actions of the public force, this controversial group could take a turn that until now could only be cosmetic, according to some critics. This week, the new director of the National Police, General Henry Sanabria, presented the proposal to transform Esmad. The changes range from a new name for this force to a different image of both the agents and the tanks, and a promise of a better approach to intervene in social protests. General Sanabria will present this proposal to President Gustavo Petro and his Defense Minister, Iván Velásquez, to be studied and approved. According to what was said by the director of the National Police, the Esmad would not end but would be transformed, so that the Police have a force that contains disturbances. File photo. Members of the Mobile Riot Squad (Esmad) fire tear gas during a student protest in Medellín, Colombia, in February 2020. (Credit: JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP via Getty Images) The changes to transform Esmad The first and most striking is the change of the name of this squad. It will no longer be called the Mobile Anti-riot Squad (Esmad) and it would be called the Dialogue and Accompaniment Unit for the Public Demonstration. “There has to be a change, of course, clarifying that every police force requires a force that contains a demonstration that turns violent,” General Sanabria said in an interview with Caracol Noticias. Another change is the image. Agent uniforms will change from all-black to one you can call “non-confrontational.” “The uniforms have a special characteristic and that is that they are not black,” General Sanabria said. “These uniforms are already with primary care protocols: a white helmet and some visual devices that somehow do not call for contact but rather for tranquility.” In the meantime, the tankettes, which are also currently black, will have a new color and a different approach to their operation, such as serving as ambulances to extract people injured during the demonstrations, because, according to Sanabria, in previous protests that The ambulances have been attacked when trying to rescue the injured. File photo. Members of ESMAD confront students at an anti-government protest in Medellín, Colombia, in March 2020. (Credit: JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP via Getty Images) The promise of change from the new Esmad Sanabria, who was recently appointed director of the National Police , came with the promise of change in the institution, which has been heavily criticized for its intervention in the social protests of 2019 and 2021 under the government of President Iván Duque. He said that in the new approach this riot force will have two devices in case of violence in demonstrations. The first is a basic accompanying device, which are police officers in charge of mediating possible confrontations: “It will be the one that in some way moderates and in some way accompanies the police,” Sanabria said in Noticias Caracol. The other is specialized in intervention, which is “the one that comes into contact, the one that contains the violence and the intervention for the public good for the integrity of third parties.” But there is doubt about these changes. The use of weapons by this force remains in doubt. Although General Sanabria said that “the correct use of less lethal weapons will be monitored,” weapons such as the controversial Venom, a multiple projectile launcher that “because of the speed with which the projectiles come out, can be risky if placed in the floor”, said the director of the Police this Monday. “When (the Venom weapon) is placed in the upper part of the vehicle, they comply with the manufacturer’s technical standard and do not have any problem. Unfortunately, on some occasion, due to the haste of events, it was placed on the floor and could have affected one or more two people,” added Sanabria. The water propellant will also continue to be used to drive away protesters and other non-lethal weapons, but dangerous for people, which are regulated by law. Regarding the change of approach of this force, Sanabria has promised one in which “the action of local authorities is privileged” and that the use of Esmad is the “last resort”, a promise that has been repeated for years, but that in the end it has led to the use of violence. Sanabria says that these coexistence managers will make the agents stay behind and not intervene with the violent demonstrators: “Because yes, it is written, but really that is not fulfilled because it is always sought that Esmad be the one to enter into confrontation and that has to change,” he said. Government responds to HRW report on police abuse 4:52 Call for dismantling of Esmad Police Esmad has been under heavy criticism for years. But these have intensified in recent times due to his disastrous performance in the 2019 and 2021 social protests against the Duque government. The intervention of this riot block left dozens of cases of eye amputations to protesters and even the death of protesters such as the case of Dilan Cruz in 2019. The NGO Temblores, which monitors the actions of the public force in the demonstrations, said in its most recent report “Official silence: a stunned cry for justice for the 20 years of Esmad”, that since its creation in 1999, Esmad is responsible for the death of 34 people, with methods such as the use of firearms, beatings and use of tear gas, shooting with rubber bullets, run over by tanks, among others. The Duque Government said that the actions of Esmad occur “exclusively in the face of violent and irrational actions that constitute a crime, violate the rights of people and are not peaceful demonstrations.” In a 2020 document, the Supreme Court of Justice ordered Esmad to suspend the use of shotguns and referred to the death of Dilan Cruz in the November 2019 protests in Bogotá, saying that “he was injured in the head by Esmad with beang bag type ammunition and, due to the injuries sustained, and died two days later”, according to the Court. Senator Gustavo Bolívar, a strong ally of President Gustavo Petro, insists that Esmad must end. “Maintaining it is an insult and a betrayal of our youth. I only act as a guarantor that campaign promises are fulfilled,” Bolívar, a senator for the Historical Pact, tweeted, adding that the Senate will monitor “that this change guarantees life, integrity and protection of the human rights of citizens”. The truth is that putting an end to this force is in doubt, because on the one hand, the announcements made by the director of the Police reveal not an elimination of the force, but rather its transformation, a measure similar to the one referred to by the recently appointed Minister of Defense Ivan Velasquez. “That is an issue that must be reviewed very carefully,” Velásquez told Cambio magazine. “There have been expressions in the public discussion regarding the elimination or the reform, they are both options. “What is certain is that this Esmad, as it has become known, cannot continue,” said the Colombian Defense Minister .