n Colombia on Wednesday in demonstrations called by unions, farmers and indigenous groups who accuse the government of ties to right-wing militias. Picketers blocked traffic for hours on the Panamerican Highway in the southwestern state of Cauca, where at least 1,600 members of indigenous groups squared off against anti-riot police that came to clear the road, police said. Television images showed at least three trucks burning.
Cauca police chief Col. Luis Camacho said at least two police officers and three protesters were injured in the violence, and another eight demonstrators were arrested.
The clashes were part of nationwide demonstrations against President Alvaro Uribe's government called the Central Workers Union, Colombia's main labor federation. Tens of thousands of people participated in protests, including nearly 5,000 in Bogota, federation Vice President Fabio Arias said.
The group called the protests to condemn "the relations that this government has with paramilitaries, against the legislative agenda, and mass firings in the health sector," Arias said.
Consuelo Rubiano, a 41-year-old nurse who joined protesters in Bogota, criticized the president.
"I'm really tired of seeing reports every day that the president is mired in controversy, saying he isn't a paramilitary," she said. "Instead of defending the 'paras' and fighting with everyone up to the Supreme Court, he should dedicate himself to what we elected him for."
As part of a snowballing "para-politics" scandal, 13 pro-government lawmakers have been arrested and dozens more, including the president's second cousin, are under investigation.
Uribe has so far escaped relatively unscathed by the scandal, capitalizing on his popularity for pushing back leftist rebels and bringing down one of the world's highest kidnapping and murder rates.
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