In March alone, 83 homicides were recorded in Cali, although this is a slight reduction from the same month's figures, but last year, 6 fewer cases. According to El País, the figures continue to have the same behavior of the last 20 years, the events involve young people who are allied or under the influence of psychoactive substances, in the late hours of the night or at dawn, mainly on weekends.
The newspaper points out that the areas of the city where homicides occurred the most in the first three months of the year are: “in Commune 14, with 35 murders; Commune 15, where 28 cases were recorded and Commune 21, in which there were 20 crimes.” In addition, in the neighborhoods Manuela Beltrán, Las Orquídeas, Antonio Nariño, Córdoba City, are other sectors most affected by homicide cases so far in 2022.
At the beginning of the year, the Mayor's Office of Cali presented a report based on the statistics provided by the Social Observatory, assured that it was the beginning of the year with the lowest number of homicides in the last 30 years: only “45 cases recorded to date”, January 20.
The Secretary of Security and District Justice, Colonel in Reserve, Carlos Soler Parra, said:
But, according to the monthly statistical bulletin of the National Reference Center on Violence, CRNV, in January, the same month as the mayor's office, there were 76 homicides in Cali. What it meant to be the city with the most cases nationwide.
“Unfortunately, murders are multicausal phenomena with different characteristics that favor them. In the city, homicides are related to problems of coexistence and crime within each commune, places where the criminal dynamics of gangs and organizations vary, such as drug trafficking routes, drop by drop accounts, security charges, revenge payments, among others,” said Álvaro José Pretel, an analyst and researcher in security and defense issues, to El País.
A few minutes ago Colonel Soler said:
He invited all citizens and security fronts to “have a special commitment” to the preservation of life. He said that they should reflect on how they react to situations, managing emotions and freeing “reason and heart” from all hatred. He stressed that complaints or discussions should be done with peace of mind and not to do so under the influence of alcohol. He adds that the district recognizes the problem; thanks to this they will start working on the problem. “It is not normal for anything to escalate the spiral of violence.”
Finally, he asks young people not to allow themselves to be “instrumentalized” by illegal groups, who recruit them to fight for a “place of vice” that the only one who gives money is the drug trafficker. “This security issue is not about putting more police on street corners, it's about confronting drug trafficking and microtrafficking in a clear way.”
According to the report of the National Reference Center on Violence, Cali is the city with the most homicides in the country so far in 2022, followed by Cartagena, Barranquilla and Medellín in the “ranks”. In contrast, neither in Mitú nor in Puerto Carreño have murders been reported.
KEEP READING: