Relative of the mayor of Calarcá was threatened in his home

A few days ago, a group of five people had illegally entered a farm located in the municipality of Calarcá, in the department of Quindío. Although details of the incident are unknown, local authorities confirmed that the property belongs to a relative of the mayor of the municipality, Luis Alberto Balsero Contreras, and that the alleged criminals, although unarmed, did intimidate the president's relative.

This information was confirmed by Colonel William Alberto Zubieta Pardo, commander (e) of the Quindio Police, to the local media La Crónica del Quindio. Although he did not give much detail because it was a personal matter of the burgomaster, the uniformed man did confirm that after the fact the mayor's security scheme has remained the same.

He stressed that “the mayor must first refer to the subject because the case is in a judicial term, which I cannot pronounce on”; however, he clarified that although the situation must be addressed by the Mayor's Office, for its part, “what the National Police did was an identification of people, no more”.

According to the media, the five people were captured by the Calarcá Police on the farm, since after they entered the premises without warning and intimidating towards the owner, the authorities were alerted to the presence of these men in the place. The uniformed men arrived at the scene of the incident and identified the five men, who were transferred to the municipal police station.

However, these men were reportedly accompanied by five other subjects, who were not found by the authorities on the site.

After the five men had been transferred to the station, they were released, as the authorities are still investigating the facts to confirm whether the mayor's family member was actually intimidated and, if necessary, to find out the reasons for them.

For now, we are still awaiting the statement of Mayor Luis Alberto Balsero Contreras on the facts and the alleged threats to his life or that of his closest family unit, as well as the progress of the police investigation.

It is worth mentioning that, two weeks ago, in Calarcá, 3,625 signatures were endorsed by the Registrar's Office in the process of recall of the mayor, which has remained firm since May 2021. Jennifer Alexandra Molina is the leader of the process and explained, according to Caracol Radio, that they exceeded the required signatures of 2,749 to proceed with the recall.

“2,749 signatures were needed to guarantee the intention of the people of Calarqueños and more signatures were endorsed than necessary, now the accounting book is being reviewed and for this the CNE has 5 days during which the contribution ceilings have been corrected and then it will go to the full room of the National Electoral Council, CNE,” said the spokeswoman.

At this time, Mayor Balsero could challenge the validation of the signatures in case the signatures or ID cards do not match. However, if this does not happen, the Registrar's Office could call for atypical elections so that the people of Calarqueños decide whether or not to revoke Balsero's mandate.

For this, the process requires the attendance of a number equivalent to half of the valid votes cast for the mayoral elections of this municipality in October 2019 and, of the number of voters who respond to the Registrar's call for the new elections, it would require that half plus one vote in favor of yes.

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