At the close of polls, Colombia’s presidential elections have reportedly taken place without any significant disturbances or guerrilla attacks, according to the government.
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Colombia’s Ministry of Defense has been lauding Sunday’s presidential elections as the most peaceful in recent decades.
In central Colombia, in the state of Antioquia, an explosive device was deactivated whilst in Casanare a smaller device was deactivated. In the southern state of Caqueta there were some minor disturbances in several villages.
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Aside from these incidents the voting hours proceeded without any major events and Iragorri said that all polling stations were open by 8am.
“So far there have been four arrests of people with arrest warrants, 614 advertising pieces were seized, 60 subpoenas were issued to drunk people, and 121 firearms were seized,” he added.
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Additionally, 2,979 commercial establishments were penalized for selling liquor, in violation of the country’s “dry law.”
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W Radio reported that 400,000 members of the security forces guarded 99.9% of the country’s polling stations and there have been no reported attacks by any of the country’s rebel groups.
In contrast, during the 2010 elections, there were 19 attacks, according to the Interior Ministry.
Colombia’s two largest guerrilla groups, the FARC and the ELN, enacted a unilateral ceasefire on Tuesday declaring that they would not launch any attacks against the state.
MORE: Rebel groups enact ceasefire ahead of Colombia presidential elections
The Ministry of Defense thanked the armed forces and police for guaranteeing the safety of the elections.
Gracias a @FuerzasMilCol @@PoliciaColombia estas han sido las elecciones más seguras de las últimas décadas: #JCP pic.twitter.com/wuZYz9P7nx
— Mindefensa Colombia (@mindefensa) May 25, 2014
Sources
- En Antioquia, Casanare y Caquetá se presentaron hechos menores: Mininterior (El Espectador)
- Con normalidad avanza jornada electoral en Colombia (W Radio)
- Elecciones Seguras 2014: 232 personas capturadas en el preámbulo de la contienda electoral (Ministry of the Interior)
- Inician elecciones presidenciales con un 13% de reducción en hechos de violencia: Mininterior (Ministry of the Interior)