Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos announced on Wednesday that both the FARC and criminal gangs across the country have been weakened and the government will remain vigilant.
Within the fist week since official peace talks between the government and the FARC commenced in Oslo, the president said the perseverance of the Armed Forces has led the FARC to a situation in which they have no reference and the offensive against the guerrillas will continue.
Santos also stated that the government is making progress fighting criminal gangs after, referencing the 17 members of the “Rastrojos” that surrendered to authorities on Monday, saying it is “proof that these criminal gangs have been hit very forcefully.”
According to the president on his website, safety is paramount to the government and “this is an issue on which we are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” also pointing out how under his leadership the homicide rate is at its lowest ever in the past 30 years.
Santos reassuringly stated that “in the case of manpower, we are increasing the number of police and army units to 5,000 units. We are increasing the capacity, we are increasing intelligence teams,” adding praise to the “Plan Corazón Verde” (Greenheart Plan), in which a select number of police are trained in each type of crime, which has been proving to be a success.