THE ESSENTIAL: Colombia joins regional tide with biggest protests in decades →

In a continent that has been growing increasingly restless, Colombia has become the latest country in which political conflict is erupting, seeing its largest anti-government strikes and street rallies in decades and prompting comparisons with the mass-scale protests seen in Chile and Ecuador. But are these comparisons valid, or do they ignore Colombia’s idiosyncrasies?

Colombians are unhappy with President Ivan Duque's response to nearly a week of protests over a slew of issues including economic reform and corruption [Ivan Valencia/AP Photo]