Daniel Andrés Castiblanco, a 22-year-old boy, reported violence and insecurity in Bogotá's transportation system. The victim reported that he was allegedly drugged with some type of scopolamine or a derivative of this alkaloid on one of the TransMilenio buses.
The events took place last Saturday, April 16. Castiblanco was returning home around 9:00 at night in a TransMilenio that he boarded at Portal 80 to reach one of the stations in Soacha.
The young man's father, Gabriel Castiblanco, narrated the events before the newspaper El Tiempo. “He made a very small withdrawal ($20,000), entered TransMilenio, boarded the bus to the house in Terreros Soacha and that's when he feels a strong aroma that makes him lose consciousness,” commented the victim's father.
With this testimony, the Metropolitan Police of Bogotá (Mebog) hypothesizes that the attackers were able to follow him to steal the money he had just taken from the ATM; however, those who assaulted Castiblanco not only took his wallet, cell phone and documents, but also beat him. The next day, Daniel woke up at 5:00 in the morning near the bridge on 68th and 80th Avenue.
The young man entered the San Rafael Clinic, where he was attended by specialists and the medical report was issued. Daniel Castiblanco ended up with a rupture in his left arm and a strong dislocation at the ankle of his right foot, so he underwent several surgeries due to the severity of the injuries.
Despite the fact that the young man has all the injuries and impairments to his mobility, he does not remember the aggressions or who did them. Even so, the police informed his father that the young man must file a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office, considering that he was also the victim of theft.
“We want to expand the complaint, review cameras on Portal 80,” the father explained to the media. We demand that they review the course of their aggressors.” Gabriel and other relatives of the victim are seeking testimonies from people who might have been present at the time of the incident; however, they pointed out that the situation would not have reached that point if a uniformed man was present to help.
Gabriel Castiblanco expects those responsible to be captured. For its part, Mebog is compiling the recordings of the security cameras of the Portal de la 80 and the videos of the houses near the whereabouts. With that, they hope to find the whereabouts of the aggressors.
TransMilenio: between insecurity and the decline of its users
The transport system has been constantly criticized by the inhabitants of the capital because of the quality of service and the insecurity in the system. He is currently facing tangible problems: according to the company, since the pandemic began, the flow of its passengers has fallen by about 50%, significantly affecting its economy.
Despite the fact that normality is already being taken, TransMilenio has not been able to recover its usual flow of users before covid-19. The situation is of great concern to the company but also to the district, which has been forced to ask for a debt quota before the Council, an approximate $1.16 billion due to the system deficit.
Some political sectors have pointed out that the decline in users has been the result of poor policies of the transport company. These would have generated an overpopulation of street vendors, cases of violence, sexual harassment, 'rapping', armed theft, among other irregularities that occur within the articles.
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