The governor of the southwest Colombian department of Cauca called on the security forces Wednesday to improve the security situation in the region after six people were killed in an attack on a helicopter.
In an interview with Caracol Radio, Governor Guillermo Alberto Gonzalez asked Bogota to stop “this damned network of drug trafficking, guerrillas and criminal groups.”
According to the governor, his department has seen an increase in drug trafficking activity and illegal mining.
“The problem of Cauca is caused by the amount of drug trafficking and illegal mining. If we could forcefully end these two things, everything would be different,” the governor said.
Gonzalez asked national security forces to come up with a long-term security plan for the department instead of launching short-term military offensives.
The Colombian army has been involved in heavy fighting with FARC guerrillas who have attacked villages in the northeast of the department for years. The department is considered crucial for the trafficking of marijuana and cocaine from the southern jungles to the Pacific coast and according to authorities is increasingly used for the illegal mining of gold.