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| - Colombia's defense minister on Friday publicly apologized for police brutality after the death of a man in custody sparked two nights of deadly rioting in the capital Bogota and other cities. At least 13 people were killed and more than 400 wounded during widespread disturbances after a video released on social media showed Javier Ordonez being repeatedly tasered by police during a street arrest. He died later in custody. Flanked by police commanders at a news conference, Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo expressed his "pain and indignation" over the death of Ordonez, an engineer and father of two in his 40s who was studying to become a lawyer. "The national police apologize for any violation of the law or ignorance of the regulations incurred by any of the members of the institution," said Trujillo, the minister with responsibility for the police. A lawyer for the victim's family claimed Ordonez had died after being brutally beaten at a police station, following the repeated taser shocks. Ordonez is heard repeatedly crying "please, no more" in the widely circulated footage of his arrest, taken by a friend. "I have photos of how they left the victim. Javier was massacred -- the crime of aggravated homicide and the crime of torture was committed," lawyer Vadith Gomez told Bogota's Radio Blu. Ordonez's family said he had gone out to buy alcohol when he was arrested. Police authorities have opened an internal investigation against two uniformed officers "for the alleged crime of abuse of authority and homicide," the defense minister said. Trujillo told the news conference that five other police officers had been suspended from duty. Meanwhile, demonstrators planned a third straight night of protests on Friday as the death toll from two nights of violence rose to 13. Street protests first erupted in several areas of the capital late Wednesday and quickly turned violent as video of Ordonez's mistreatment circulated. Rioting also erupted in the cities of Medellin and Cali. Police were accused of opening fire on protesters, and most of the 13 dead had suffered gunshot wounds, according to the office of Bogota's leftist mayor, Claudia Lopez. A number of videos circulating on social networks showed uniformed officers being attacked by demonstrators and responding with gunfire. The government accused demonstrators of "systematic and coordinated vandalism," but Lopez slammed the police for using live fire to quell the protests, saying 68 people had suffered gunshot wounds. "There is solid evidence of the indiscriminate use of firearms by the police," the mayor said. Authorities reported a total of 209 protesters wounded as well as 194 police. Dozens of police posts, as well as police and municipal vehicles, were destroyed. "This is not a problem that comes only from now. It is a problem that we have always had with the police and military forces," said Bogota resident Jose Maria Builes. "Excessive force has always been used here," he said. For many Colombians, the Ordonez case evoked the killing in the United States in May of African American George Floyd, who suffocated after being pinned by the neck to the road under the knee of a white officer. lv/db/sst
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