At noon on Thursday, March 24, a fire broke out in the town of Minca, at the height of the central town of Córdoba, in the rural area of Santa Marta, where units of the volunteer fire brigade of the capital of Magdalena went to control the fire.
The incident, which was controlled, left a balance of 30 hectares affected by the flames and according to information from the Santa Marta District Office for Risk Management and Climate Change (Ogricc) during the afternoon worked to extinguish the last two hot spots to prevent the fire from spreading.
“Units of the Santa Marta Fire Department are working on the liquidation of a vegetation cover fire, fortunately they have already been controlled and work is being done on the liquidation of the last two hot spots, to prevent the fire from resuming,” said Jorge Lizarazo, chief of the Ogricc.
The fire occurred in an area that was difficult to access and to reach the point of emergency it was necessary to travel by motorcycle on a route that lasted at least two hours, from the central square of Minca to the highest part.
“The affected sector will be monitored with overflight carried out by personnel from the office of risk management and climate change in the city of Santa Marta to take rapid response actions if new incidents are evident due to strong breezes and drought in the vegetation,” Lizarazo warned.
Thus, the authorities and relief agencies call on indigenous communities, tourists and farmers in the sector to refrain from throwing glass, pieces of mirrors and cans, because these elements generate a magnifying glass effect and with high temperatures they spread a conflagration act.
This is also added to the strong dry season that the district of Santa Marta and the entire department of Magdalena is going through.
On March 23, the Metropolitan Police of Santa Marta reported that a Military and Police Criminal Investigation Court imposed a security measure in a prison center against two patrol cars of the National Police. The uniformed men reportedly demanded money from a foreigner last year in exchange for not processing it.
According to RCN Radio, the members of the police being investigated were identified as: Martín José Gutiérrez Roca, 31, and Junior Ezequiel Collazos Morales, 28, attached to the Police Substation of the Minca district in the city of Santa Marta, Magdalena.
According to the preliminary investigation, the defendants have committed the crime of concussion in homogeneous competition, which, as mentioned in the penal code, is when: “The public servant who abuses his position or functions constrains or induces someone to give or promise to the same servant or a third party, money or any other improper use, or request, shall incur imprisonment for six (6) to ten (10) years, a fine of fifty (50) to one hundred (100) statutory minimum monthly wages in force, and disqualification from the exercise of public rights and functions of five (5) to eight (8) years.”
The two policemen asked a foreigner for money to avoid a fine, because according to witnesses, the visitor would be committing unlawful acts on public roads. The institution stated that this type of capture strengthens the confidence that citizens have in police work.
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