Colombian President Álvaro Uribe offered to reward any Meta citizen who
gives information to increase security in the department, one week
after the water supply of the capital Villavicencio was destroyed.
Uribe announced that National Police chief Oscar Naranjo would be moving his office to the Meta capital to coordinate increased efforts of the authorities to battle drug lords active in the area and intensify the search for a number of FARC commanders that allegedly operate in the area.
A large part of Villavicencio is without water, after the aqueduct that supplies the city with water was bombed last weekend. The police blame the FARC for the bombing and the following extortion of local authorities. Inhabitants of the city also received paramilitary-style pamphlets causing fear among the population.
“We haven’t done this in six years, but we will pay whoever helps us to discover who is making and distributing these pamphlets,” Uribe said.
The President also called on the armed forces in the area to increase efforts to capture nine FARC commanders active in the department and to arrest drug lords ‘El Loco Barrera’ and ‘El Cuchillo’.