Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos appointed a High Security Adviser to assist the government in countering a recent wave of guerrilla attacks.
The new high official is Sergio Jaramillo, a former deputy defense minister.
The new position is “quite alike the national security adviser in the United States. We have designed and copied some of the ways in which this national security advisory works in the U.S,” Santos said on Friday after a meeting with Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera.
The newly appointed adviser will be part of the president’s team and work together with the Defense, Foreign and Interior and Justice Ministries.
The president also appointed Alfredo Rangel, president of the Security and Democracy foundation and also a former Defense Minister, as High Councilor of Civil Society to confront violence in cities like Medellin where local gangs wreak havoc in the poor neighborhoods.
Rangel will coordinate the communication regarding urban security between the local, departmental and national levels of government.
Since Santos’ inauguration on August 7, Colombia has seen a number of bloody attacks on security forces by leftist guerrillas. The deteriorating security in cities has been an issue for almost two years.