[ad_1]
This Wednesday, in the midst of the debate on political control of the Ministry of Defense by members of the House of Representatives, a Police certification went unnoticed.
Óscar Enrique Ortiz, cabinet secretary of the Ministry of Defense, responded to the congressmen from how many men the Police have, to the annual budget of the institution, today under scrutiny after the case of police brutality against citizen Javier Ordóñez and the abuse of its members on the days of September 9 and 10.
(It may interest you: What the 6 photos show about the death of Javier Ordóñez)
But in the response given to the citing congressmen (Abel Jaramillo, Wilmer Leal, Jorge Gómez, Óscar Restrepo, David Racero, Inti Asprilla, María José Pizarro, Luis Albán, Jairo Cala and Carlos Carreño) they also refer to the seven uniformed men involved in the Ordóñez case.
Although they do not give names, they do answer the question: “Please inform, how many members of the Police were involved in the events that occurred on September 8, in the city of Bogotá, where Mr. Javier Humberto Ordóñez died?”
(We invite you to read: The confession of one of the policemen linked to Ordóñez’s death)
In addition to rank and years of service in the institution, he wonders if these uniformed men have open disciplinary processes.
EL TIEMPO agreed to the response and it states that of the two mayors and 5 patrol officers involved, four record open disciplinary proceedings.
The information, according to the document, was provided by the General Inspection of the Police, led by General William Salamanca.
However, no details are given of the events that led that instance to open this type of investigation.
(It may be of interest to you: State Council did not agree to stop the use of a ‘taser’ gun)
However, it is clear that they will be part of the criminal investigation for which the Minister of Defense, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, already entered to qualify during a previous intervention in the Senate: “Some policemen killed a Colombian citizen, dishonored the uniform, violated the norms of ethical behavior and they were unaware of the entire training effort of the institution “.
The other data
The document also reveals that one of the mayors involved has been in service for more than 19 years; and the other uniformed, of the same rank, 17. The latter is one of those who has a disciplinary process open for another case.
(We invite you to read: Eln and the burning of CAI: the new friction between the mayor and the Government)
One of the patrolmen completes 18 years in the institution; and the others between 8 to 12 years. In this group are the other 3 uniforms with previously opened disciplinary files.
President Iván Duque, wearing a police jacket, toured some of the CAIs that were affected after the protests this week.
As revealed by EL TIEMPO last week, the patrolman Juan Camilo Lloreda Cubillos is one of those involved in the death of Ordóñez, who recorded blows to his face and body, in addition to the 8 discharges of the ‘taser’ pistol delivered by the uniformed. The other identified police officer is Harby Damián Rodríguez Díaz.
The information also reveals that the number of active uniforms in the Police has been decreasing. In 2016, the Police added 179,398 active troops, but by 2020 that number dropped to 161,111.
(See here all the articles of the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO)
This contrasts with the annual budget assigned to the institution. Indeed, the report indicates that 4 years ago the Police had an allocation of 8,954 million pesos, and for the term of 2020 that amount rose to 10,882 million pesos.
In the middle of the debate on Wednesday in the plenary session of the Chamber, during which this document from the Ministry of Defense that EL TIEMPO reveals went unnoticed, representative Katherine Miranda showed a video of Wilder Salazar, the witness who was with the deceased Ordóñez in the CAI of Villa Luz, in Bogotá, where he was attacked by the police officers now under investigation.
In his story, Salzar assures: “Javier’s pleas at all times were: ‘Now, no more, no more’. (…) They never stopped and hit him several times in the face.”
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
[email protected]
On twitter: @UinvestigativaET
[ad_2]
