In the Security Council, the authorities examined the situation of law and order and crime in Norte de Santander and the Catatumbo region.
Intelligence of the Military Forces and the National Police is working on clarifying those responsible for the terrorist act perpetrated in Tibú.
At the end of an extraordinary Security Council in the Thirtieth Brigade of the National Army, the Minister of National Defense, Iván Velásquez Gómez, repudiated the attack perpetrated in recent hours in Tibú, which left a civilian woman and two police officers dead, while expressing solidarity to the families.
In statements to the media, Minister Velásquez said that attacks of this nature go directly against the citizens, and that “even with the pretext of having a target within the Military Forces, there is no justification for carrying out terrorist acts like this.”
During the Security Council, in which the civil, military and police authorities participated, the general situation of law and order and crime was examined, not only in the municipality, but in the same way in Norte de Santander and El Catatumbo region.
“We have agreed, regarding indicators at this moment in the department of Norte de Santander, that the Military Forces will redouble their efforts and that in a month we will review those figures again to compare with today's current ones, which, in any case, and it is a reality for everyone, are not satisfactory because crime has increased and in some aspects there has not been significant results,” Velásquez said.
In that sense, the Minister recognized that this department is the second in coca leaf cultivation in the country: “Tibú has 22 thousand of the 42 thousand hectares that the Catatumbo region has planted with coca; and if there is a plantation in extension of such a nature, undoubtedly, there has to be a high production at least of the base paste, if not of the cocaine hydrochloride, because eventually the base paste could be transported either to Venezuela or to the south of the department, and it would be processed that in other regions.”
However, the head of the Defense highlighted the work of the Military Forces with the decrease in homicide rates, which, in fact, reduced by 16 percent, compared to the same period last year, going from 228, in 2022, to 192 cases.
"We work, fundamentally, for the defense of life, but the defense of life we are going to achieve in its greatest expression, [will be] if we weaken and reduce the criminal organizations, which, if they do not surrender to the peace process provided by the Government, if they do not want to join peace, they will be dismantled by the operation of the Military Forces,” the Minister said.
In the same way, the head of the ministry informed that 10 platoons with 360 men are arriving in Norte de Santander, reinforced with judicial police and Gaula, “because one of the phenomena that has had a great increase in the department, and that it is necessary to reduce significantly, is kidnapping and extortion,” he said.
Finally, before starting the Council, the Minister, accompanied by the commanders of the Military Forces and the director of the Police, visited in the Erasmo Meoz University Hospital in Cúcuta, the injured civilians and police officers, who were beaten by the attack.
Source: Defense Sector Communications Office - Ministry of National Defense