The governor of the north-Colombian Cordoba department said Monday she is “desperate” for assistance with increasing violence and assassinations in her department.
In an interview with W Radio, Governor Marta Saenz Correa said violence in the northern department of Cordoba has resulted in 1,922 deaths since 2007.
“We are very scared, and sometimes I feel helpless as governor. As things stand it appears that criminal gangs are winning the battle against us,” said Correa.
Correa also criticized Colombia’s minister of defense for being “uninformed” about the situation in Cordoba.
According to Correa, “you cannot hide deaths…and tell lies to the community,” as some branches of the government have allegedly requested from her.
The Cordoba department, covering a large part of Colombia’s Caribbean coast, is considered of great importance for drug trafficking to Central America and has seen surging murder rates since rival neo-paramilitary and drug trafficking organizations are fighting to control the routes to the coast. Earlier this year, Bogota launched an offensive against these groups.