A street dweller is burned for sleeping on the terrace of a house, in Sincelejo

Rafael, known as “el garra”, a resident in a street situation, fled the scene with second and third degree burns on various parts of his body, in fact, one of his eyes is very compromised; for which reason he was referred from the Sincelejo University Hospital to one in Monteria. This, after he fell asleep on the terrace of a house in the west of Sincelejo, capital of the department of Sucre.

Several inhabitants of the city showed their indignation at what happened, claiming that Rafael travels through various sectors of Sincelejo, looking for food in the garbage, or items that could be used to sell, in order to find some livelihood.

Despite the fact that so far, the authorities have not officially commented on these facts, the inhabitants of the sector ask the National Police to investigate what happened, to find those responsible and to bring them to justice.

According to El Tiempo, the people who identified Rafael Arango, years ago he began to use drugs, this routine takes him day by day to spend the night anywhere, no matter where he is. On this last occasion, he sought refuge in a house that had a terrace because it was raining that night. The people who inhabited the house, when they noticed the situation, decided to pour hot water on it so that it could leave the premises.

“El garra” is out of danger, but it is these acts of intolerance that have led to the fact that in the department of Sucre, with a cut to March, 51 homicides have been reported so far in 2022.

The situation would have arisen quite a while ago, because, at the beginning of the year, various organizations, together with the Catholic Church and human rights defenders, issued an alert about the security situation in Sincelejo, and in general throughout the entire department of Sucre.

Although it is not entirely certain, the authorities believe that insecurity is leading citizens to take justice into their own hands; also, the fact that, in that part of the country, several armed groups are present such as the Gulf Clan, so it is inferred that these armed actors would be inducing some of the disturbances of public order that have occurred in the last few hours.

For example, a week ago they recorded the murder of Argemiro Martínez Salgado, known as “Bubalú”, who according to the authorities had a judicial record for a concert to commit an aggravated crime for the purpose of qualified theft. The events were recorded in front of the market square in Sincelejo. This homicide is attributed to the Manuel José Gaitan substructure of the Gulf Clan.

All these situations have led the bishop of the diocese of Sincelejo, Monsignor José Clavijo Méndez, to ask the parishioners to pray for peace, good treatment and harmony this Holy Week.

Since the beginning of April, the mayor's office of Sincelejo, together with the National Police, has been carrying out the so-called “security caravans”, holding checkpoints in what categorizes critical areas of the city and some other strategies in order to maintain the peace and security of citizens.

Mario Yeneris, Secretary of Government of Sincelejo said:

He added that the issuance of a “more complete” decree is being considered to allow the opening and closing of commercial establishments, increasing the presence of the authorities in the areas where criminal acts are taking place in Sincelejo, which according to the statistics they have in the municipal administration, is towards the area south of the capital of Sucre.

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