40 municipalities in the central Colombian Cundinamarca department had not one single murder in more than one year, local police said Monday.
While the major cities of Colombia, also the capital Bogotá that is enclosed by the department, report a rise in homicides, Cundinamarca was able to lower the number of assassinations due to a new "security system."
The department, for example, implemented a curfew for minors at 10 pm "to keep them safe at home and in fact we have now a much more harmonious and convenient environment for the kids," Colonel Fabio Castañeda, police commander of Cundinamarca, told Noticias Caracol.
Castañeda attributed this achievement to "the community, its administrative authorities, the judicial authorities and the National Police, with a significant support of the Army in the rural areas."
"We have higher levels of security than Switzerland or Sweden where not a single murder in the last two or three years was registered," the officer said.
