The mayor of Buenos Aires, Cauca, Pablo César Peña, denounced that the Public Force took five and a half hours to reach the municipality while only 17 police officers fought alone against the FARC dissidents who carried out a brutal armed takeover of the urban area.
The revelation occurred when the president traveled to Bogotá to meet with officials of the National Government after the attack that left the town’s mayor’s office completely destroyed.
“Extremely painful and it was terrible, terrible, terrible. It is something that one would not want to experience again nor would anyone want to experience. All the negative feelings you can imagine run through the body, the mind and the heart”expressed Peña about the ten hours of terror that his municipality experienced.
According to the mayor, the public infrastructure was practically destroyed. “What is the administrative center of the towns is completely destroyed: the Mayor’s Office building, the Police Building, the House of Justice and the adjacent homes,” the official detailed.
The delay in military reinforcements generated outrage. The authorities have explained that the weather conditions prevented the movement of aircraft and that the land roads were blocked with crossed vehicles and explosives installed by the attackers.
“I hope they can explain to us in detail. In principle it was said that the weather conditions did not allow the aircraft to reach, and I recognize that the road crossings were closed, vehicles had been crossed and there were explosives along the roads, but five hours is too long”Peña questioned.
The mayor also revealed that President Gustavo Petro has not contacted him after the attack, and that he has only maintained communication with the Minister of the Interior, Armando Benedetti, who announced that the Government will advance in the reconstruction of the municipality.
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Army defends operations in Cauca
The second commander of the National Army, General Erik Rodríguez Aparicio, defended military operations in the department and contextualized the security situation in the region.
“The work that the troops of the National Army have been carrying out in the Department of Cauca is very important, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We have managed to anticipate and neutralize more than 80 percent of the actions of these organized armed groups this year”stated the senior officer.
Regarding the attack on Buenos Aires, Rodríguez explained that: “They committed the crime of perfidy, since to get to the site they disguised their movement by dressing in civilian clothes and once they noticed the presence of the troops and the Air Force, the first thing they did was change their clothes and hide among the civilian population.”he denounced.
The general called on the community: “We cannot allow these terrorists, behind the protection of an illegal business such as criminal mining and drug trafficking, to destroy our municipalities. We need the participation of Caucanos with timely information. Such an attack is not planned in a day and leaves many signs before it happens.”
The community of Buenos Aires remains waiting for the announcements to be translated into concrete actions that allow normality to be recovered after one of the most violent days that the north of Cauca has experienced in recent years, reviving scenes that many believed were overcome two decades ago.
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