The mayor of Toribio, the southwest Colombian town where FARC rebels killed six in a car bomb attack on Saturday, said Monday the government has failed to adequately protect his town.
Mayor Carlos Banguero said that Toribio has dealt with FARC activity since the 1980s.
“Toribio has suffered 14 major attacks and more than 600 skirmishes in two decades,” said Banguero.
The mayor noted that Saturday’s attack was “worse than all the previous attacks,” and that the people of his town were unable to sleep due to fear of another attack.
Banguero said that the government has not adequately addressed the threat to Toribio, and that further action and vigilance was required. “The government is unmoved, and we require all eyes on Toribio, as well as support after the attack,” said Banguero.
The mayor’s call for more security resonates that of governor Guillermo Alberto Gonzalez who asked Bogota to come up with a long-term security plan in march after FARC rebels killed six in an attack in the town of Caloto on a helicopter transporting money.
On Saturday, the FARC loaded a bus with 220 pounds of explosives and detonated it in the city square. At least six people were killed with at least 70 injured. Five-hundred homes were reportedly affected by the blast.
According to local authorities, guerrillas are trying to get rid of the state forces in the region to re-open a corridor that allows the trafficking of drugs from the south of Colombia to the Pacific coast.
President Santos announced Sunday that he will create a new mountain military unit to combat FARC activity in the Toribio region.