Valle Governor Juan Carlos Abadía asks for more security forces and the
formation of elite force to curb soaring violence in Colombia’s third
largest city Cali.
While violence in Medellín seems to have exploded and Bogotá mayor Samuel Moreno is being criticized for his allegedly failing security policy, the Valle governor warns that violence in Cali is spiraling out of control and the murder rate this year has gone up 23 percent compared to the same period last year.
According to Cali authorities, 408 people were murdered in the city in the first three months of this year. Figures of robbery, drug consumption and extortion have gone up as well. The governor says “the security situation in Cali is not a matter of perception, it is reality.”
According to newspaper El Tiempo, Abadía called on National Police director Oscar Naranjo to send more troops to Cali and wants a hybrid army / police force, because the municipality “is in a strategic place that allows criminals to operate in an unexpected manner.”
City authorities meanwhile are trying to decrease the number of firearms in Cali by closing down clandestine weapons factories and stopping weapons from entering the city.
Cali Mayor Jorge Ivan Ospina asked the National Government for legislation to be able to act against minors that increasingly are involved in crime in the city.