All members of the Barranquilla city council are considered a military
target, a letter, supposedly sent to the council by rebel group FARC,
says.
According to Council President Jorge Rangel, the letter has the FARC logo and says “they notify the councilors of Barranquilla they were declared military targets because they conspired , it says literally, with emperor [mayor] Alejandro Char to hit the people of Barranquilla.”
The city council immediately informed police authorities about the threat, but are still waiting special protection.
Police commander Jorge Gutierrez told newspaper El Espectador the police wants to first analyze the authenticity of the letter, before proceeding to offer protection.
“We suspect they are not [of the FARC], but you understand these are things we can not discard from the beginning. They have to be subjected to a careful analysis,” the police commander said.
Meanwhile, the councilors — some of whom received the threat at home — are terrified and demand the Police to implement special security measures.
Barranquilla, located in the north of Colombia, is the country’s fourth largest city.