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The mayor of Bogotá assured that the comments she made after the assassination of the patrolman Edwin Caro were not made with the purpose of stigmatizing, but rather to “recognize a reality.”
After the rain of criticism of Mayor Claudia López for her statements about the security problem in Bogotá in which, she said, a minority of Venezuelan citizens would be involved, the president returned to refer to the issue, this time to apologize to Venezuelan migrants and justify themselves.
The origin was the accusations he made against the migrants after the death of the patrolman Edwin Caro in the middle of a shooting in Bogotá, in which a Venezuelan was involved. “With the greatest respect and with the call that this does not generate any act of xenophobia – the vast majority of migrants are humble people fleeing a dictatorship – but the facts are stubborn and show that there is a deeply violent minority of migrants, that he kills to steal or for a requisition, as happened in this case ”, indicated at the time López, who also added that this minority would be a major factor of insecurity for Bogotá.
>>> Read: Alert for pamphlets that promote xenophobia in the southwest of Bogotá
The president’s statements unleashed a series of discriminatory publications on networks and the media, which grew 576%, according to the Xenophobia Barometer. The Congress and the Council of Bogotá criticized the declarations of the president, to such an extent that from this last space, 24 lobbyists (more than half of the Council), asked the mayor to rectify herself because her statements had been xenophobic and could generate discriminatory acts that put migrants at risk.
Despite the fact that López had a scuffle over this issue with the Council, this Thursday, March 28, he went out to apologize to this population, assuring that his intention had never been to stigmatize them. “Twice I have referred to the migrant population and twice I have caused a controversy that we do not want to cause. What we want to explain is that we are presenting a challenge. Everyone. It doesn’t matter where we come from. We face challenges of employment, poverty and insecurity, ”he said.
And he added: “when I point out some problems of insecurity, I do not do it to cause a controversy or to stigmatize anyone, but to recognize a reality and so that we do not hide or deny that reality, but we also confront it.”
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The statements came after pamphlets promoting xenophobia appeared in the Techo neighborhood, in the southwest of Bogotá. “Don’t give alms, food, or clothes. Do not rent or give work. Do not be an accomplice in their crimes, “they say, referring to Venezuelans.
The appearance of these pamphlets is an example of the tense situation that exists in the streets of the capital, in the face of the latest acts of insecurity and the accusations that are constantly made against this population, despite the fact that Inpec has indicated that out of 97,000 detainees for these cases, only 1.8% are Venezuelans.
