A Colombian general on Friday denied media reports that 3,000 more troops would arrive in Bogota to bolster security.
General Gabriel Pinilla, commander of the Bogota-based 13th Brigade, told W Radio, “this is not true. We are going to work with the same soldiers, with the same number of men.”
On Thursday, local media said the new troops would arrive from the Colombian army’s 13th Brigade to work with police in response to terrorist threats. According to Pinilla, Bogota was not under terrorist threat.
The news about the possible increase in troops caused irritation with Bogota mayor Gustavo Petro who said he considered the move unnecessary as “we have the lowest homicide rates in the last 33 years.”
According to Petro, army intervention would negatively affect Bogotanos’ sense of security. “To see military with rifles in the streets makes people feel more insecure,” the mayor told the same radio station.
The rumors followed on the heels of a May 15 terrorist attack in Bogota, when a bomb targeting a former minister exploded in the city’s financial district, killing 2 and injuring 39.