After fighting for his life for several days in an intensive care unit, the death of Lieutenant Colonel (r) Renato Solano Osorio, who served as deputy director of the Neiva prison, was confirmed.
Solano was unable to overcome the severity of the injuries suffered in the attack carried out on January 13, the same attack that immediately ended the life of his son, a minor of only 11 years old.
The violent episode occurred in the Los Olivos sector, when the prison official and the child were traveling in an official van bound for the municipality of Rivera. According to the reports provided by Inpec, a hitman who was traveling on a motorcycle intercepted the vehicle and fired repeatedly, hitting the minor in the head and the officer in the thorax and abdomen.
The attack has generated deep indignation at the national level, not only due to the violence directed against a public servant, but also due to the death of an innocent child who was only accompanying his father.
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Through an official statement, Inpec expressed its deep sorrow over the death of the officer, who remained under medical care at the Hernando Moncaleano Perdomo University Hospital, due to the severity of his injuries.
One of the aspects that most worries the authorities is that, according to the Ministry of Justice, the deputy director of the Neiva prison had not reported recent high-risk threats, which reinforces the hypothesis of a previously planned attack with the aim of generating anxiety and destabilizing the penitentiary administration.
The investigations to identify and capture the material and intellectual authors of this double crime are advancing under strict confidentiality.
Meanwhile, the National Government and different organizations have reiterated the call to strengthen the protection of prison officials, who for months have been warning about the lack of security guarantees in different regions of the country.
This attack in Neiva adds to a worrying escalation of violence against the Colombian prison system, calling into question the effectiveness of the current protection schemes for those who run highly complex detention centers.
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