Tens of thousands of teachers, public sector workers and students protested in the capital, Bogota, and most major cities on June 7 against budget measures agreed between the Colombian government and the International Monetary Fund.
The demonstrators are opposed to a law being debated in Colombia's congress that would limit federal funds to states and municipalities. Once passed, the law must be signed by President Andres Pastrana.
About 300,000 teachers and 125,000 public health workers have been on strike or participating in work slowdowns to protest the measure, being enacted as part of a program to reduce the government's budget deficit in return for loans from the IMF. The government projects budget "savings" of US$4 billion over the next seven years.
Gloria Ramirez, the president of the Colombian Federation of Teachers, said the protests were not only against the budget cuts but the entire "neoliberal model" being imposed on the country by the IMF.