Colombian President Juan Manual Santos said Monday he has used money taken from a narcotrafficker to build 565 houses for citizens in the troubled port city Buenaventura on the western coast.
“In 2008 we seized… some hide-outs of the bandit drug trafficker, alias ‘Chupeta,’ and we found a very significant quantity of money,” Santos said.
“This is the first housing project in Buenaventura that will have water 24 hours a day and that will have a treatment plant for waste, this is prosperity for everyone,” the president added.
The entire Valle de Cauca department, but particularly the coastal city of Buenaventura, has been plagued with violence for months because of its strategic location for drug gangs – direct sea access and close proximity to coca cultivation hubs in Nariño, Valle and Choco.
MORE: Drug war terrorizes Colombian port city
The narcotrafficker, Chupeta, exported cocaine from the very city where the new housing was constructed with his ill-gotten profits.
Another nearly $10M is allocated for a “mega” high school.
Sources
- En Buenaventura, el presidente Santos entrego viviendas hechas con dinero del narcotrafico (W Radio)
- El dinero de ‘Chupeta’ que se convirtio en casas (Semana)
- Gobierno Nacional entrego 565 viviendas en Buenaventura (Presidencia de la Republica)
