The Colombian vice president announced Monday he will ask the head of the police to reduce his personal security in the wake of accusations that the DAS infiltrated his team.
Angelino Garzon told the media he thought his nearly 100 man security detail was “oversized.”
He said, “I think it is better if a good number of the police that are in my security detail at the moment go and perform their fundamental job, which us to protect citizens.”
Garzon denied his comments showed a lack of trust in his security detail following accusations that the DAS used their position in his security detail to arrest a union leader.
He said, “I am the first person to recognize the selfless, disciplined character of the police that have been on my security detail, but it is a very big team and I think it should be reduced to a fair size.”
However, he also commented that there would be strict controls over who could enter social meetings with Garzon in the future, after DAS officers arrested unionist Jose Valencia when he was in a meeting with the vice president.
He said, “”I am going to do an exercise where everyone identifies themselves, who are the community spokespersons, the state, who is from the police, and reiterate that only those considered necessary can be there.”
The Vice President added he still did not understand the why the DAS needed to arrest Valencia, why they did it during a social dialogue and why they later released him claiming it was a mistake.