2023-09-22 22:54:02
After the explosion of a car bomb in the early hours of this Friday, September 22 in a rural area of the municipality of Jamundí, Valle del Cauca, the Minister of Defense, Iván Velázquez, together with the commander of the National Army, Helder Giraldo Bonilla, traveled to that area of the country with the purpose of holding an Extraordinary Security Council, given the seriousness of the events.
The above, after President Gustavo Petro ordered the prompt “presence of the State and the Public Force to combat criminal organizations that attack communities,” indicated the Ministry of Defense, through the social network Twitter).
Likewise, prior to hearing the news, the mayor of Jamundí, Andrés Felipe Ramírez, had already begun to offer a reward of up to $70 million for information that would lead to those responsible for activating a car bomb that left ten people injured in Potrerito, rural area of Jamundí (Valle del Cauca). In addition to requesting State presence in the area.
“We have invested all our institutional capacity to offer opportunities for people in the territories. It is not possible for Jamundí to continue being left out of peace strategies,” stressed the regional president.
And he added: “We are geographically strategic because we are the municipality that connects Nariño and Cauca to go to the Pacific. We deserve attention to fundamentally resolve this situation. We cannot lose more lives in this war that people do not deserve. We can not wait any longer. “We need you President in Jamundí.”
The director of the National Police, General William Salamanca, also spoke about the attack: “Finding those responsible for these events, which threaten life, requires coordinated work with the Public Force, government entities and of course the citizens,” Ramírez specified in his X account.
Initially, the reward was $50 million, according to an announcement made by General Salamanca. However, the amount increased with the contributions put on the table by the Mayor’s Office.
Ramírez had also asked the president, Gustavo Petro, this morning to be present in the municipality. Given the results of the assessment of the events, in which ten people were injured, one of them in serious condition, in addition to two vehicles and five homes destroyed. The injured people receive care at the Jamundí Pilot Hospital.
Attack that was immediately condemned by the Minister of Defense, after stating that “a criminal organization intends to subdue the State and then resorts, as it did this morning, to the terrorist attack, to the installation of car bombs, which are actions directed against the community,” he said.
“His actions go against the community. Years ago they left—if they had—ideals, and today they are more associated with the practices, which we claimed were outdated, of narcoterrorism,” said the head of the Defense portfolio.
For Velásquez the attacks are a response to the actions of the Public Force in the Micay Valley, the same argument outlined by the President.
“Then, they see the possibilities of continuing to increase their wealth lost, and they act in this way; with the intention of imposing a cessation, to prevent the consolidation of the control that, every day, with greater intensity, with greater capacity, with greater territorial extension, the Army has been carrying out with the support of the Aerospace Force,” said the Minister, while indicating that the Government’s “clear order” is that “we are not going to withdraw.”
Although it has not yet been established which armed group would be the perpetrator, the authorities report that the Jaime Martínez structure of Iván Mordisco’s FARC dissidents commits crimes in that area. That structure had declared a ceasefire on September 15, days before the entire Central General Staff sat down with the Executive to outline a route for peace negotiations.
This group is accused of being responsible for the activation of another car bomb this week in Timba (Cauca), where two people died and five others were injured. At this time, the Army is present in both areas.
“Troops of the Third Brigade, especially our High Mountain Battalion Number 3, continue the development of military operations in the rural area (of Jamundí), in order to contain, mitigate and seek the neutralization of these terrorist actions,” reported Colonel Julio Pinzón, commander of the Army’s Third Brigade.
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