Attacks on the mayor of La Playa de Belén, in Norte de Santander

This Thursday, the van where the mayor of La Playa de Belén, Norte de Santander, Ider Humberto Álvarez García, was mobilized.

The events were presented in the La Virgen sector, on the road leading to the municipality of Ábrego, where the president would have a meeting to discuss issues, precisely, about the armed conflict facing this region of Norte de Santander.

It was preliminarily known that armed men fired at the armored van of the president's security scheme. It was handled by its driver, who was injured and was taken to the Emiro Quintero Cañizares regional hospital in Ocaña.

The hospital's emergency department coordinator, Antonio Monroy, assured that the man was shot in the buttock of the left leg, but arrived in good general condition.

The Secretary of Government of Playa de Belén, Eduardo Claro, was also mobilized in this vehicle, who was unharmed.

Íder Álvarez said that he has repeatedly denounced threats against his life and this is the first time he has suffered an attack. The authorities are already aware of the different ones it has received from the insurgent groups that commit crimes in this sector.

In the midst of this situation, the president called on the armed groups to look for other avenues, since weapons are not the way out. “A call for sanity is not through arms, it is not by attacking the leaders that we are going to achieve the changes that this region requires,” he said.

In Norte de Santander, mayors of the Catatumbo area have expressed concern about their safety, as they say they feel unsafe to carry out their duties.

For now there is no pronouncement by either the Army or the Police regarding the events that occurred with the mayor of La Playa de Belén.

According to preliminary information from the authorities, there were several attacks and harassments against military units in some municipalities in the Catatumbo region of Norte de Santander, on the border with Venezuela, on Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

The uniformed men were allegedly attacked with rifle bursts and fired explosive devices at them in the village of La Gabarra, in the rural area of the municipality of Tibú. While in rural areas of the municipality of San Calixto, clashes with unidentified illegal armed groups were reported, as reported on Caracol Radio.

Faced with the situation, soldiers of the Vulcano task force were sent to La Gabarra who will support the uniformed who suffered the harassment.

On Monday afternoon, there was also a report of the attack with explosives against an Army patrol in rural Amalfi (Antioquia), in the west of the country, where two minors and one adult were injured.

On the Alerta Paisa radio station, they said that the harassment occurred in the San Juan village, where, according to the same authorities, two vehicles were attacked in which soldiers were mobilized, providing security to the soldiers who had provided security in Sunday's elections.

In the preliminary information provided by the authorities, it was indicated that as the vehicles passed, the devices were detonated, without any uniformed personnel being injured. However, a minor under the age of 15 who was moving around the site suffered injuries from the splinters and a significant injury to his left eardrum. While the adult also suffered injuries to the buttock.

KEEP READING: