Colombian police on Sunday said that they have evidence of plots by guerrilla groups FARC and ELN to sabotage the congressional elections on March 14.
According to the police’s civil security director, Orlando Paez Varon, the intelligence relating to the plots had been gathered from several sources which revealed “the intentions of these subversive groups to affect the democratic process.”
The Colombian authorities have announced that they will take extreme action to prevent any planned sabotage.
Paez Varon reaffirmed that over 153,000 members of the national army and police would stand guard at polling stations during the electoral process and indicated that deployment of security personnel to high-risk areas would begin this week.
Those areas most at risk were identified as the Nariño, Cauca, Tolima, Huila, Arauca, Caqueta and Putumayo departments.
However, armed forces commander Freddy Padilla on Sunday urged citizens around the country to attend the polls without trepidation, because the safety measures were in place to address and counter “the actions of any subversive group.”
The army official’s statement coincided with the delivery of 30 tons of electoral material to polling stations around the country.