Colombia’s national infrastructure agency INVIAS announced July 6 that Antioquia highway toll-booth worker Luis Fernando Álvarez Correa has just died of massive burns suffered as a result of a terrorist “protester” attack on the “Los Llanos” highway toll booth in Antioquia last month.

The 38-year-old Álvarez is just the latest of thousands of victims of the “Comite del Paro” and the “Primera Linea” strikes and blockades, both of which arose in April supposedly in reaction to a proposed tax bill that (ironically) had already been withdrawn by the Colombian government.

Colombia’s Health Minister Fernando Ruiz has estimated that thousands of Covid-19 victims here unnecessarily died as a result of “Comite del Paro” mass-spreader events, road blockades and terrorist attacks on delivery vehicles, ambulances and their drivers, which prevented the timely delivery of crucial oxygen tanks, medical supplies and patients to hospitals and clinics in many parts of Colombia.

Rather than a protest over a non-existent tax bill, the violent protests, road blockades, massive destructions and burnings of buildings, vehicles, public transport infrastructure and injuries to thousands of police and demonstrators can be seen as largely the result of cynical left-wing politicians organizing and manipulating hundreds of thousands of understandably frustrated unemployed youths who have lost their jobs because of the Covid-19 crisis – tricked by an all-too-human frailty of blaming “the government” – a government that ironically has gone deep into debt with massive subsidies to the poor and working classes to help them survive the Covid crisis.

Unfortunately, excessive force by some riot police – rather than justifiable force in reaction to certain rioting and violent blockades by protesters -- has prompted Colombia’s Attorney General to investigate and/or bring charges against at least 105 policemen so far for abuse of authority, as well as for possible culpability for 16 civilian deaths during the riots and blockades, according to the National Police.

Beyond the more than 1,000 protesters who have reported injuries during the May-to-June marches, road blockades, Molotov-cocktail attacks, shootings, burnings, lootings and destructions of hundreds of buildings, buses and private vehicles, 1,564 police also have been injured -- and three police murdered by rioters -- according to the National Police.

In addition, 24 violent protesters so far have been captured for attempted murders of police, including an attempt to burn-to-death several policemen trapped inside just one of the 121 police stations destroyed by protesters during the riots, according to the latest National Police statistics.

What’s more, the National Police have detected and reported at least 94 fake-news reports -- mainly disseminated through social media -- including cleverly edited videos that only show police attacking “innocent” protesters (and in a few cases, some nearby news reporters).

However, in some (but not all) cases, police counter-attacks often came in response to protesters throwing of rocks, Molotov cocktails, small bombs, bricks and sometimes shooting bullets at police.

But some of these violent protester attacks -- followed by police counter-attacks -- were cleverly edited-out by the fake-news propagandists, according to 94 documented cases reported by the National Police.

Several extreme left-wing politicians -- aiming to manipulate certain voters and especially naïve youth – also have reposted these fake-news videos via Tweets and Facebook pages, aiming to stir-up hatred against Colombia’s moderate-centrist, democratic government.

Fake videos also have aimed to trick some of the international news media into unbalanced “human rights violation” stories that unfortunately failed to investigate or report extreme left-wing political forces -- including the narco-communist ELN and reFARC terrorist groups, as well as Venezuelan government agents – who in part are financing and promoting this violence.

Colombia this week will surpass 20 million Covid-19 vaccinations -- and seems likely to surpass its goal of 25 million by end-July, according to latest Health Ministry forecasts.

Meanwhile, more than 1.25 million employees of nearly 6,000 private companies nationally this week are starting to get free Covid-19 shots thanks to massive investments by member-companies of Colombia’s biggest industrial-commercial trade association, ANDI (founded in Medellin).

“This is the most robust public-private alliance that has been achieved in the history of Colombia, where the national government made available its entire mechanism for the acquisition of vaccines, and companies are investing more than COP$285 billion (US$74.6 million) to reach Colombian workers and households,” ANDI President Bruce MacMaster explained.

In Antioquia, more than 150,000 workers at more than 450 member companies of ANDI are already lined-up for free, employer-paid vaccinations, according to ANDI-Antioquia director Alejandro Olaya. Among the first getting vaccinations: workers at Medellin-based utilities giant EPM, banking giant Bancolombia and clothing manufacturer Offcors, among many others.

Antioquian companies have already invested COP$40 billion (US$10.5 million) in free Covid-19 vaccines for their employees and their families, with each shot costing about COP$220,700 (US$58), including costs of Bogota-to-Medellin air transport, vaccine refrigeration and local distribution, Olaya added.

Beyond the new, private-sector vaccinations, Antioquia alone has already exceeded 2.9 million public vaccinations as of July 5, with Medellin accounting for 1.4 million of those doses.

Colombia has now moved into phase-four of its national public-vaccination campaign, offering free shots to people between 40 and 44 years old – having already vaccinated most people 45 years and older, including crucial cohorts such as front-line health workers, public safety workers and – in the next few days – the completion of vaccinations for the entire cohort of school teachers, as Colombia reopens in-person schooling July 15.

Colombia’s infrastructure agency (Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura, ANI) announced today (June 30) that the “Magdalena 2” project linking Medellin northward to the “Ruta del Sol” highways just won a COP$2.8 trillion (US$740 million) loan deal organized by Colombian coordinator Financiero de Desarollo Nacional (FDN).

The loan deal for ANI’s “Magdalena 2” concession “guarantees continuation of the execution of highway construction works that connect the Antioqueño municipality of Remedios with the Puerto Berrío bypass connector and then onward to the ‘Ruta del Sol’ highways at Cimitarra, Santander,” which will speed freight traffic to-and-from Cartagena and northern ports on the Caribbean.

FDN’s organization of the loan package involves U.S.-based Goldman Sachs, Spain’s Banco Santander, Bancolombia, Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui, the Bank Credit Institute of Spain (ICO), France’s Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Banking, Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP), Germany’s Siemens Financial Services and CAF-AM Ashmore.

“The financing is made up of three tranches that include a local loan in Colombian pesos, a loan in U.S. dollars and a bond issue governed under U.S. regulation. The sum of these three tranches guarantees all the resources for this financial closing,” according to ANI.

This “fourth generation” (4G) project includes 144 kilometers of new highway and a nearly complete, 1.36-kilometers-long bridge over the Magdalena River.

“It is expected that ‘functional unit four’ of the project -- linking the Puerto Berrío bypass with Cimitarra thus connecting the departments of Antioquia and Santander -- will come into operation in the second half of 2021, while by 2023 the construction phase will be completed for the entire corridor,” according to ANI.

Colombia Health Minister Fernando Ruiz announced today (June 30) that because of acceleration in Covid-19 vaccination rates, Colombia is likely to achieve its stated goal of having its 35 million most-vulnerable-people fully vaccinated by December 2021.

“We see an important growth in daily vaccinations, having started with an average of less than 50,000 per day but currently we are vaccinating more than 300,000 people daily, which gives us a vaccination rate enabling us to close this process in December 2021 with 35 million vaccinated,” Ruiz stated.

Deputy Health Minister Luis Alexander Moscoso added that thanks to growing international deliveries of vaccines, Colombia is exceeding its goal of delivering more than 1 million doses each week to cities, towns and territories throughout the country.

As of June 28, 17,570,929 doses had already been applied nationally, of which 6,331,714 correspond to second doses and 51,708 to single doses (the latter being the single-shot Janssen vaccine).

Meanwhile, Colombia has already received 24.8 million doses of vaccines from various manufacturers -- including 1.5 million doses just-now being provided this week to scores of private companies giving vaccinations to millions of their workers and families.

By September, 35 million Colombians will have received at least their first dose, with the remainder of vaccinations coming during the fourth quarter, according to Minister Ruizr.

Coverage with the first dose is already at 89% in people over 80 years of age; 79% in the 75-79 group; 77% in the 70-74 group; 73% for 65-69 year-olds; 67% for 60-64 years; 54% for 55-59 years; 44% for 50-54 years; and 9.5% in the just-opened 45-49 year-old-group. Front-line health workers are now 100% vaccinated, he added.

“Colombia is today the fourth country in Latin America in the number of vaccines applied and the second in speed of application since the beginning of the different programs. We will close June with more than 26 million vaccines received, not counting possible donations, making us the third biggest vaccinator in Latin America and with 4-million-more-people than we had earlier projected,” he added.