Colombia, in the hands of crime

On the revolution of Ideas!

For some time I have been speaking out about the critical state of public order in Colombia and its major cities, not only caused by the guerrillas, but by criminal gangs operating in cities that strike without mercy, kidnap, kill, steal and nothing is done to avoid the bloodshed which has Colombia in a State of conflict for some time now.

Since President Uribe left office public order has been disturbed by unwanted felons, and the Government continues to allow this violence and there’s no real plan to solve this critical situation. The defense minister seems more like a fashion icon or in the worst case scenario; a friendly lady who only gives out nice speeches, but no real solution. There isn’t a consistent policy of keeping a strong hand on crime, and apparently both the government and the minister have believed that killing Joyoy was the best and last action on crime, that Farc would be terminated with such a strike, That emerging bands would no longer be banging cities with their criminal actions, and that everything regarding law and order had been resolved. It is loud and clear that no!, FARC has increased its terrorist activity, and yet, the Government is sitting down watching how Farc kills people, police and nothing happens, everything continues to work as if nothing was happening.

The Minister of Defense with his famous phrase "raging" only produces laughter, because it seems that the message was sent to members of  FARC and organized crime, which have taken the country, because neither  police nor the army are showing that this order has been taken seriously. On the contrary, there is a feeling of total lack of leadership at the heart of the Ministry of Defense, which has the country in the hands of criminals, and we as citizens only see how crime takes over and there’s no Government to uphold the law and put criminals in their place.

Cities are in total chaos, in the hands of criminals, who attack citizens without mercy and the central government all it has to say are nice speeches and great plans that show no immediate result. On the other hand, another situation that generates concern is the clear involvement of members of security forces with criminal gangs specializing in the walk Millionaire (Paseo Millonario), express kidnapping, kidnapping for extortion and other forms of crime, not to mention terrorism. We have to express that not all members of Colombia’s Security forces are corrupted, there are still brave men with great honor, but the truth is that for example, the national police is a case where some members of this institution participate in many illegal activities like kidnapping, walking millionaire ( Where someone is abducted for hours, meanwhile criminals take out everything they can from the victims bank accounts, steal their car, belongings and everything they can think of, and then they get rid of the victim throwing them in a far away part of town or in the worst of cases killing the victim), express kidnapping and nobody does anything to fix this serious problem where corruption plays an important role. This is absurd, because in whose hands are we? In the hands of dedicated police, or criminals in uniform? These questions should be answered by General Naranjo, but as with many things in Colombia, this still remains unsolved because there is no leadership to push the changes the country needs. It is necessary that  police becomes an institution that builds trust and therefore can be more effective in the fight against gangs, terrorism and crime, which are doing much damage to Colombia.

Finally, cities are in the hands of criminals, it's time to take action, impose a strong hand, recruit more men for both police and army, but mainly police. This would allow people to go out without thinking that they will be kidnapped or robbed of their property by criminal gangs during the night or day, and even worse with the help of corrupt cops, no! That must end.  Establish more transparent and rigorous recruitment procedures and clean the national Police from Corrupted officials are many of the things that can be done to put an end to this situation. Launch campaigns inviting citizens not to participate in criminal activities, not allow any media coverage for individuals who have been criminal offenders specially to be seen as heroes after they have written a book that describes their killings and criminal life. It’s necessary to establish a national policy on security that can be followed by every government regardless of their political tendency. Preventing terrorism, crime and any other form of violence should the governments priority because that’s why it was elected, and not to follow and absurd liberal-leftist policy on security where there’s a lot of talk and not so much action to prevent crime.

On 2011 we will have elections for city council, mayor, governor and state senate’s, and it’s necessary to elect leaders who ensure safety and effective police action so that cities once again become social centers Filled with love and harmony  and not headquarters for crime activity where everything happens and nobody does anything to stop it. These bands have to be exterminated without mercy as well as terrorism. Those who make war and the blood of Colombians a personal business are enemies of the State and therefore we have to identify, pursue and destroy them so that Colombia may find peace someday away from the drama of a kidnapping, a mother crying the loss of her son, destroyed families and a country without hope. We must join forces to achieve the goal of making Colombia a better country. Leaving cities in the hands of these undesirable people is not an option Mr. President. You must do the job for which you were elected, because until now all we have seen on security from your administration is less than acceptable, so less talk and more action Mr. President. Violence is not an option for Colombia and we must fight to avoid this from becoming a bigger and out of hand problem so our country won’t fall into the hands of crime.

Cristhian Mancera Mejia

Director

La Tribunacolus