The Minister of Defense, Holmes Trujillo, presented a security report of the first months of 2020, in which he shows a significant reduction in crimes such as homicide, theft, extortion and kidnapping.
The head of the Defense explained that between January 1 and April 7 of this year, homicide has decreased by 10%, from 3,171 cases in that period of 2019 to 2,849 in 2020. According to the report, 37% of all these homicides is concentrated in capital cities.
As for the theft, Minister Holmes Trujillo explained that the theft of people belongings decreased in that period by 12%, from 71,208 cases in 2019 to 62,657 in 2020.
Both the theft of residences and the theft of shops and automobiles report the lowest number in the last 4 years. In the first case, the theft of residences presented a decrease of 29%, from 11,820 cases last year to 8,418 this year; theft of shops decreased 5% from 15,822 cases in 2019 to 8,641 in 2020; and the theft of vehicles decreased by 22%, from 2,587 cases in 2019 to 2,029 in 2020.
In the case of theft of motorcycles, the decrease is 25%, since in 2019 8,719 cases were reported and this year there were 6,496 reports. This means the lowest figure in the last 6 years.
Minister Holmes Trujillo in the same way highlighted the decrease in extortion between January 1 and April 7 of this year, which was 38%; it is the lowest figure in the last 8 years. In contrast, 2,286 cases occurred in that period of 2019, and in the same period of this year there were 1,428.
Regarding kidnapping, in this period the lowest figure in history was reported with 19 cases between January 1 and April 7, 2020. This means a reduction of 34% compared to the last year, when 29 cases occurred.
The head of the Defense Sector in the same way highlighted the results of the Security forces in the fight against the world problem of illicit drugs, since as of April 7 of this year 112,5 tons of cocaine had been found, 9% more than in the same period of 2019, when 103.1 tons were found.
Coca base paste finds increased by 55% compared to the same period of the previous year, going from 11.1 tons to 17.3 tons; and those of marijuana increased by 19%, from 94.8 tons to 113.3 tons.
Regarding the dismantling of infrastructures of drug trafficking groups, there was an increase of 19%, from 1,341 in 2019 to 1,597 in 2020.
Regarding the fight against Organized Armed Groups, Minister Trujillo said that during this period, 98 people of the ELN have been captured, 56 have demobilized and 2 have died in the course of military operations; on residual GAO there are 231 people were captured and 7 died in operations; on the GAO Clan del Golfo, 332 individuals have been captured and 5 have died in operations and regarding the Pelusos and the Caparros 64 men have been captured and 3 have died in military operations.
Finally, on the fight against the illegal extraction of minerals, the Ministry of Defense reports in the first quarter of the year 276 operations against this situation, in which 344 units of yellow machinery and other machinery have been found, which represents an increase in seizures of 13%, since 2019 when there were 304 finds. Meanwhile, 1,359 mines have been intervened in 2020, which is an increase by 16%, compared to 1,171 in 2019.
Source: Communications - Ministry of National Defense
