Ombudsman's Office had issued more than five alerts on the presence of armed groups in Bogotá before the attack in Ciudad Bolívar

Over the weekend there was an attack in the CAI of Arborizadora Alta, in the town of Ciudad Bolívar, the dramatic act that was executed by FARC dissidents, leaving 35 people injured and a 12-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl dead. The explosion also left at least 20 houses affected, whose windows were broken by the force of the explosive wave, as well as six injured pets.

The event has set a precedent and an important warning in the capital of Colombia, since it reveals that even urban areas are not exempt from the violence of the criminal groups that have consolidated in the country. According to the Office of the Ombudsman, some warnings had already been issued about the presence of these structures in the capital and that there had been talk of some places where there would be greater risk.

“Ciudad Bolivar, Usme, Bosa, Engativa, Fontibon, Kennedy, San Cristobal, Rafael Uribe Uribe and 12 municipalities in Cundinamarca that are neighbors of the towns I have just named (...) we must anticipate that people's rights are not violated, that is the objective of early warning, we said that there are armed groups that have a presence pendulum and in some neighborhoods more than others. In the alerts, which are 11 in total for Bogotá and for Cundinamarca, 5 of them for Bogotá, we said that there was a presence of the urban front of the ELN,” said Ricardo Arias, Delegate of the Early Warning System of the Ombudsman's Office to W Radio.

In addition, he added that it has been commented that rural areas should be monitored because they are the areas most vulnerable to this type of event and that the structures of the FARC dissidence are the ones that are making the most presence today.

“We have said and warned that there is a very large corridor in the rural area (...) in rural areas it is undisputed that there is a very big struggle for this corridor between that wing of dissent of the Farc Gentiliana against the so-called “second marquetalia” that is expressed through the 51st front (...) we have also said that there are organized crime groups that materialize the big structures”, said the official.

For now, to address the situation, the mayor of Bogotá Claudia López announced that she will meet with Iván Duque, in her functions as commander of the public forces to convene a National Security Council.

In the statements made by Claudia López, she also referred to the 33rd front of the FARC dissidents, who claimed responsibility for the attack this morning. “They are cowardly and miserable murderers who planted and detonated 20 to 25 kilos of explosives behind the CAI of Arborizadora Alta, with full knowledge and intention of harming civilians in the middle of a popular neighborhood, in an area surrounded by a park, three schools and commerce,” said the local president.

The detonation in the CAI resulted in the murder of two children: Ivanna Salome Ranger Molina, five, and Daniel Estiven Duque Buitrago, aged 12. In addition, 39 people were injured, of which nine are minors.

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