Colombia’s Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon announced Sunday he will send a 1,000 police to the southwestern Valle del Cauca department.
The south of the department has been the site of a bloody attack by Colombia’s largest guerrilla group FARC recently and lies in a zone considered of great importance for the trafficking of drugs from Colombia’s jungles to the Pacific ocean.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced an increase in Colombian Army presence in the Cauca department, bordering Valle to the south.
Pinzon said Sunday’s increase in police will be a temporary measure in between further military presence. “Army troops will continue to increase in the area and in the mean time we need to reinforce troops already present. That’s the case of the National Police.”
The area in the south of Valle and the north of Cauca is one of Colombia’s regions most affected by guerrilla attacks against infrastructure, armed forces and towns.