Who is' Simona ', the hooded woman who shouted harangues in the Cathedral, and what could happen to her

The civil disobedience of 'Simona' has made various sectors of society and the authorities uncomfortable in shocking demonstrations and performative acts that she has carried out, together with another group of resistors, under a hood and a megaphone in the city. The most recent one happened on Sunday afternoon, when it broke into the Primate Cathedral of Bogotá, disrespected the religious ceremony of believers in order to impose their revisionist vision of the faith by reading a slogan that they considered poetic.

Although his face is anyone's guess, his character has become famous. With this, at least three other acts of resistance have won him recognition in Bogotá, the enmity of some media, the disagreement of the authorities and the rejection of political leaders of the conservative sector, including President Iván Duque himself.

His most recognized demonstration is still valid in his social media profile image. With a purple animal print fabric collar that covered his face like a balaclava, and his megaphone, he stood at the fountain of the building where Semana magazine operates and dyed the water red, just two weeks after the outbreak of the 2021 national strike.

The photographer Mauricio Alvarado portrayed it and assured that it was a “performance to protest against the manipulation of information, violence and the repression of social protest”, which the magazine described as a “violent show”.

Simona, as is the name under which she has identified herself as the leader of the demonstrations, belongs to the collective Escudos Azules, which in turn is part of the frontline movement, formed during the protests as the one responsible for confronting the police and organizing the “resistance”.

Another of her actions happened on January 11 of this year 2022, when she was one of the leaders of another civil disobedience action. 'Simona' appeared on one of the turnstiles of the Transmilenio Marly station, wearing the same balaclava and the megaphone, to promote a massive colathon to the system in rejection of the increase that was beginning to take effect of 150 pesos.

The protesters deactivated the turnstiles and let passengers in, while shouting the slogan “another way to fight, evade, not pay” while citizens, some confused and others celebrating, saved the fare.

“We all have the right to reveal ourselves when there is an illegitimate government and actions of civil disobedience have always been effective. This is how the independence of India was achieved, this is how the fall of Pinochet was achieved, and this is how the fall of the Berlin Wall was achieved and to delegitimize these actions seems absurd to me,” Simona said days later on W Radio, in response to accusations by the Ministry of Defence and the Metropolitan Police, about promoting this colathon with activists Chilean people.

The human rights defender and elected representative to the House, Alirio Uribe, then accompanied Simona and other members of the blue shields to reject what they described as stigmatization and criminalization against them for promoting colathon. “We are not going to be silent, we are not going to be silent, we are not going to be afraid because we are absolutely convinced that our actions were legitimate,” he said.

“Since Tuesday, January 11 in Bogotá, Transmilenio raised the cost of the ticket to 2650 pesos and the cost of the SITP to 2450 pesos. This mainly hurts lower-income citizens. According to the Chamber of Commerce, 85% of Transmilenio and SITP users are from strata 2 and 3. And according to the 2019 Mobility Survey in Bogotá, 38.4% of SITP and Transmilenio users are women. This means that almost 40% of those who pay the new tariffs must continue to face the same problems, more likely groping and abuses when we ride these articles,” Simona wrote about it in one of her columns in the Manifiesta portal.

His last action, the first with a collective called the Network of Artists in Resistance, was to break into the Eucharist on Sunday, March 20 in the Primate Cathedral, to, among other things and through its megaphone, say: “Peace? What peace are we talking about? When we forget to love each other. The peace of the secular country of ideological impositions. The country that annihilates the hopes of the peoples. That weeps the blood of sisters and brothers.”

As the parish priest told the media, the young people entered the church and after communion they took the place to say their harangue. Although there were struggles, after a few minutes they were removed by church security personnel.

General Jorge Eliécer Camacho, assured that together with the Prosecutor's Office they will verify whether there was any violation of the penal code “in terms of crimes against religious sentiment”, to determine the corresponding actions.

For its part, the Government Secretariat of Bogotá requested the National Police and the Attorney General's Office to investigate the facts and actions of those who were able to have committed one or more offenses against religious sentiment”.

In this regard, they point out that they could lead to a violation of articles 201 to 203 of the Criminal Code: “Violation of Religious Freedom”, “Impediment and Disturbance of Religious Ceremony” and “Damage or Grievance to Persons or Things Destined for Worship”.

Although 'Simona' has said on her social networks that she is not a 'petrist', as they have sought to point out to her and other sectors, she is clearly opposed to Uribism, as she has also made clear. However, his action has not been far from being called a 'self-sabotage' funded by that sector in the middle of the election campaign, an assumption that he has also denied.

His performance or attack, as it has been considered, also became the subject of the campaign. “Desecrating the Cathedral is part of the urban war that Santos threatened, of the vandalism that Petro stimulates today protected in his Vatican language, of the resentful expression of the new Farc de Cepeda; they have crossed all the lines, let us wake up and stand firm,” wrote former President Álvaro Uribe.

The leader of the Democratic Center was seconded by Miguel Uribe, head of the Senate list: “The attack of the front line on the Cathedral is the preamble to Petro's offensive against the faith. Petro and Claudia López are pursuing freedom of worship. They seek to reverse values and reward the violent. They want anarchy,” he wrote.

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