The city of Cali faces an imminent humanitarian crisis after the massive arrival of more than 200 families from the municipality of Buenos Aires, Cauca.
Since last December 16, the capital of the Valley has received an uninterrupted flow of citizens fleeing forced displacement, caused by the crude armed violence that plagues the southwest of the country.
According to the report from the Cali Personería, the situation reached a critical point on December 29, when 82 people crowded into the Regional Center for Attention to Victims (CRAV) crying out for shelter and protection.
The testimonies of the victims are heartbreaking. They report that the trigger was an armed takeover in Buenos Aires, allegedly carried out by FARC dissidents, which left damage to the Mayor’s Office, the Police station and several homes.
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In addition to the fighting, fear of forced recruitment of minors and the installation of explosive devices on rural roads forced hundreds of people to abandon their plots with the little they were wearing. Among those affected are 28 children, 41 adolescents and 22 older adults, all in highly vulnerable conditions.
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Gerardo Mendoza Castrillón, representative of Cali, was emphatic in declaring that the city cannot allow violence to lead to institutional abandonment. “The southwest cannot become a second Catatumbo,” the official warned, while activating the Contingency Plan together with the Undersecretariat for Attention to Victims.
The current priority is the census and the delivery of immediate humanitarian aid, since families are dispersed in different neighborhoods of the city facing hunger and lack of accommodation.
In compliance with Law 1448 of 2011, the Ombudsman has already formalized the taking of collective statements so that these families can be included in the registry of the Victims Unit. While compensation and reparation measures are being processed, Cali cries out for a more decisive intervention from the National Government, since the local capacity to care for this volume of people is reaching its limit.
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