Photo: Victoria and her boyfriend during the demonstration in Bucaramanga. June 9, 2021.
The Colombian education system has gaps. From primary school to higher education only accessible to a tiny part of the population. Young people feel abandoned, without a future or opportunities. Universities became symbolic gathering points where violence, struggle, debates on freedom of expression and human rights converge.
On May 19, 2021, the government voted an exceptional financial aid of 600 million Colombian pesos (137,000 €) for the attention of students, which unfortunately was not enough to ease the tensions.
My name is Victoria, I live in the Santander area and I am 20 years old.
Since I was little, I have noticed in Colombia, a lack of opportunities for the lower class to which I belong. With my sister and my mother, we grew up hungry. My dad wasn't really there. My mother didn't go to school, it was very difficult to find a job.
I went to a public school that didn't care if the students took classes or not. The lack of teachers was glaring. The government has never invested in the quality of education. I managed to graduate and wanted to go to university to be a veterinarian, my dream. There were very few places. It was almost impossible. Education is already expensive, but rich people here pay even more to secure a place for their children. My mother couldn't afford the education I wanted to do. I gave up on this dream in 2019. I joined a technological field that did not interest me at all, but the important thing was to study.
Victoria, on the left, with her friends from the frontline. They are between 15 and 27 years old. June 9, 2021
I would rather lose the only thing I have left: life.
I quit because I found a job in a clinic, but they only took 6 months to avoid having to pay the legal benefits. Yet another form of government favoritism in favor of those paid "black". I found myself unemployed, the pandemic happened and everything got worse. Our leaders quarantined us, regardless of whether we had enough to eat. They just told us: "Stay home". After several months, they paid "solidarity bonds" in the amount of 160,000 Colombian pesos (€ 37). Much of this money has been embezzled by the government with fake ID cards.
Many Colombians found themselves without this minimal help. It was already very little for many of them, because everything is expensive. In the lower or middle class, there are families of 8 or more members. If you were lucky you received one bonus per family or none at all. Some only had enough to survive. Then the government wanted to impose a tax reform on us.
It planned to increase VAT on basic necessities. It blew up everything we had cracked down on for years: lack of education, lack of opportunity, corruption, government neglect of the lower and middle class. This is what gave me the courage and the strength to join the “primera Línea” (front line) to say “NO MAS” (that's enough). We are tired of state corruption. The truth is, we young people have nothing to lose. We can't study, we don't have a job, we don't have government support, we don't even have enough to eat and believe me that is sobering. I would rather lose the only thing I have left: life.
Since the start of the protests, I have helped the medical post to rescue the tear gas-sprayed protesters. On May 28, the ESMAD (mobile anti-riot squadron) shot me, I was wounded in the head. I left the front line, but not to go home, to stay behind and bring back the injured. While treating my injury.
Victoria was loaned a helmet, pink, a symbol for her. She waits with her friends for the walk to head to college, June 9, 2021.
This is what keeps me going when I'm about to give up. I imagine myself as a great vet.
I am always very careful not to be a victim of police brutality and the violence of their attacks. The force with which they throw gas at us and drown us is impressive. The worst part is that I was able to pick up a few cartridges and they are out of date, therefore more dangerous.
On the other hand, I am very happy with what we have achieved: we have reversed the tax reform they wanted to put in place, reversed the health reform, obtained funding for housing for young people.
One of my biggest dreams (I have a lot of them) is to one day be able to study veterinary medicine. This is what keeps me going when I'm about to give up. I imagine myself as a great vet. I can imagine many other positive things for my country as well.
Above all, I want us young people to be able to access what we dreamed of when we were children.
* Name was changed for safety.
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