On December 4, 2019, I was kidnapped, tortured, and robbed by police officers while photographing a riot in Medellín, Colombia. My story is not unique; there are thousands of similar and even more escalated cases happening here daily. Dylan Cruz, Javier Ordóñez, Janner García, Jaider Brochero, and Miguel Ángel Barbosa are just some of the names that constitute a long list of Colombians killed during encounters with the police. Colombian protests are getting bigger and more violent due to a decreasing budget for educational and health systems, an increasing percentage of unemployment and insecurity all over the nation, the unjustified constant rise of taxes, and the inefficiency of the government to ensure basic human rights for its citizens. The government has implanted oppressive policies that include censoring media outlets, threatening civil protests with military action, profiling, torturing, and kidnapping social leaders, members of the press, and students, among many others. The government justifies what it does in daylight and with impunity by employing fake news campaigns, like the creation of the new terrorist group “ACAB”: an organization said to be infiltrating the protests.
Using original photos, a self-portrait and archive footage alongside press texts, I created a series of protest collages with the intention of documenting a personal, close-up look at the political power and deadly violence the Colombian government uses to abuse its own citizens.
Santiago Vargas Cárdenas is a Colombian photographer, artist, and musician. You can find him on instagram @santiago.elfotografo.