Normality has seemingly returned to Colombia. Streets are buzzing, restaurants and salsa clubs are open, masks are rarely seen — the pandemic appears to have receded into the past, becoming one topic among others. But the economic effects of COVID-19 linger on. The hardship experienced as people were forced into lockdown without means to sustain their income had a profound impact on the way Colombians experience and view their quality of life.

A lack of opportunities for the youth, rising inequality, and rampant corruption have come to characterize the Latin American nation that has been ruled by right-wing and conservative governments since independence. But the pandemic ignited a mass wake-up over the government’s lack of care for the poor. In response to Bogotá’s proposal to implement a regressive tax on public services that would further worsen people’s living conditions, more than five million Colombians united and took to the streets in May 2021 in unprecedented protests that were met with fierce police brutality.