Gustavo Petro received the emergency plan for prevent the assassination of social leaders in the territorieswith which the social organizations ask him to apply a shock plan to the first 100 days of his government in order to protect the lives of these people.
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The strategy was developed by the Petro team, congressmen from the Historical Pact caucus and the social and consists of 52 actions to be applied in 65 municipalitiesgrouped into seven subregions.
It will be the task of the Ministry of the Interior, the Foreign Ministry and the National Protection Unit to apply the project that seeks enhance community safety within the framework of the implementation of the Peace Agreement.
“Peace signers deserve efficient measures to protect their livesalso the Human Rights Defenders and the communities”, claimed Carlos Ruiz Masseu, head of the UN Mission in Colombia.
Among the list of 65 municipalities, those prioritized are Magüí Payán, Tumaco (Nariño), Tibú (Norte de Santander), Argelia (Cauca) and Ituango (Antioquia), territories that the organizations consider to be on red alert due to violence against human rights defenders, leaders, and signatories of the Peace Agreement. The goal is to have a rapid and directed response to the protection of life.
The axes of the plan are the presence of the State in the municipalities, create unified command postsor in the regions for protection requirements, that the Ministry of the Interior give a rapid response to the risks outlined for the municipalities that are in a critical situation, that the Police measure itself based on welfare and protection standards and the generation of institutional trust between civil society and the State.
In response to the presentation of the emergency planGustavo Petro ruled that there should be no weapons in the hands of civilians, requesting that the seized weapons be destroyed. According to the incoming president, there is a disconnection between local authorities and institutional capacity at the national level, which is why he proposed drawing up regulations that create a bridge between both instances.
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“This violence erupts around illegal markets, territorial controls and something that we have not been able to resolve, which is the drug trafficking (…) The friends of the United Nations who are here should know that this is exploding because there is a ban and the United Nations supports the ban,” Petro told Ruiz Masseu.
The president received the document from Carlos Ruiz Masseu, head of the UN Mission; Nury Come, process of black communities; Lourdes Castro, Social Program for Defenders; Guillermo Pérez, Committee on Human Rights and Territories of César; María Eugenia Sánchez, House of Women; Francia Castañeda, Human Rights Platform, and other community spokespersons.