Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Saturday defied criticism of his defense chief, insisting that crime is going down in the country.
Defense Minister Rodigo Rivera had come under fire earlier this month from within the coalition for allegedly not being able to curb ongoing violence by neo-paramilitary gangs in the north of the country.
But according to Santos, the government’s security policy is showing positive results. The president cited police figures that showed a 6% decrease in homicides in the course of the year compared to the same period last year.
“Regarding kidnappings, we see the same number, 26, but there’s a difference in type. Extortion kidnapping decreased from 18% to 14% and common kidnapping rose,” said Santos in a public meeting in the eastern city of Cucuta.
NGO Pais Libre recently revealed that according to their monitoring system, kidnapping in 2010 went up with 32% compared to the year before.