Santander. "Santander is in on an advanced stage of the post-conflict, with high levels of security and an economy that has benefited notoriously from this new reality."
This was stated by Luis Carlos Villegas, Minister of National Defense, at the end of the eighth visit to the regions in the framework of the National Operation against crime, this time in the capital city of the department of Santander, to analyze together with the military, police and civil authorities, the security issues of the department.
Villegas revealed that Santander today has historic levels of security. "A homicide rate per one hundred inhabitants that is almost a third of the national average, which means 10 out of 100000 habitants, is a historical level of violence in Colombia and Santander."
"The fights resulting from intolerance have in the same way been reduced (in Santander), with a reduction in personal injuries of 16 percent," Villegas added. Vehicles theft decreased 10 percent; stealing of vehicles, 17 percent; of motorcycles, 10 percent; robbery to commerce establishments, 12 percent and the common theft has remained at the same levels of 2017. "
The head of the defense highlighted that there have been no kidnappings and there are 37 cases of extortion, with a decrease of 10 percent in the entire department of Santander, in 2018.
Minister Villegas had the opportunity to check the figures of iconic municipalities in the past violence, places such as Cimitarra, El Opón, Carare, San Vicente, Carmen de Chucurí, Sabana de Torres, rural areas of Barrancabermeja, border with Santander, Arauca, Boyacá and Casanare.
Within the decisions that Villegas revealed, in the first instance, it was reported that for the south of Cesar, the Ground Operations Battalion No. 50 will be created, with 500 units, to maintain the pressure of the National Army, on the north-south line and fight against organized crime.
Secondly, he said that the municipalities of Carmen de Chucurí, Sabana de Torres, San Vicente and Barrancabermeja, will be declared, along Suratá and Matanza, as coca-free sites. That is, 63 out of the 87 municipalities of Santander, are mine-free and 14 are under full intervention at this time.
Regarding illicit plantations, the minister added that "I hope we can come to declare Santander as a department free of illicit plantations and without violence in this first semester. We are working on 20 hectares. "
Finally, the Minister stated that: "The Public Force has changed the vision of security, which is no longer the national one, the affairs of the armed conflict such as, the big leaders of the organizations. Now it is the security of the block, the neighborhood, the road, the cell phone. It is the security that provides a citizen with the certainty that his environment is not a threat ", concluded Villegas.
Source: Ministry of National Defense.
