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On September 4, the news of a fire in the San Mateo police station, in Soacha, passed with a low profile, as if it were another riot like those that usually happen in these places.
(Also: Councilor says that 9 young people injured in station fire have died)
Around 2:10 in the afternoon, visiting Friday, 20 men deprived of liberty, crowded into cells in the area, decided to set fire to a blanket. It was a kind of protest to let them see their relatives, even if it was for ten minutes. This was captured by the news cameras, as well as the complaints of relatives in front of the station.
But soon the fire spread and everything turned into chaos. One of the inmates died, and 14 more were injured. The burns on his body were serious. Another was the version of the authorities. Colonel César Ovidio Castro Guerrero, commander of the Cundinamarca Police Department, said that what happened was a riot against the Police by the inmates and their families.
“First there was a riot. They piled up the mats and set them on fire. “ That same day, he reported that seven captured had been seriously ill at the Soacha cardiovascular hospital and 4 more at Simón Bolívar in Bogotá. He also reported that the CTI of the Prosecutor’s Office had taken up the case. At that time, the governor of Cundinamarca, Nicolás García, also spoke, saying that he had brought these facts to the attention of the Military Criminal Justice.
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But this week, two months later, Councilor Diego Cancino, of the Alianza Verde party, denounced that in the days after the tragedy the victims of this conflagration were dying, one by one. In total, according to the councilor, there were nine. But the Police report that there are eight.
The mayor of Soacha, Juan Carlos Saldarriaga, abstained from commenting on the events that occurred at the CAI. The question is: why couldn’t they be evacuated in time to prevent the fire from wreaking havoc? According to the councilor, who contributed videos of that day, the 20 families of the prisoners shouted that, please, do not leave them locked up, that they be allowed to leave.
Diego Cancino, head of the list of the Green Alliance.
That afternoon, the small police station looked like hell, children and women screamed, while others filmed to record the situation. According to Cancino, he and his team have interviewed mothers, sisters and colleagues of some of the victims, and confirm that they died from first and second degree burns to their body. “Their testimonies are heartbreaking,” he said during his complaint.
But perhaps the most serious thing, and what the Prosecutor’s Office will have to investigate, is why these families say that the police in charge of the place did nothing to rescue the prisoners.
“They let them die like dogs,” said one of the relatives of the prisoners, who today prefers to hide her identity. They say that the reaction of the station’s uniforms was indolent and that they did not care that there were children on the outskirts of the station, as can be seen in one of the videos sent to the media.
“There were more than 20 uniformed men, and none of them did anything to help them, so they wouldn’t burn themselves. They crossed their arms and let the fire spread ”, claimed a mother who lost her son.
This woman also said that they tried to break glass, remove the bars, get fire extinguishers to appease the flames, but that every effort was useless because the young people were already suffering the ravages of the fire on their bodies.
According to Cancino, the complaints of the relatives go beyond a serious omission of the authority. They claim to have information that an agent aggravated the tragedy by kicking a flammable element inside the cell where the fire broke out. “One of the families we spoke with said that the opinion they made on a body says that there are traces of gasoline on one of the deceased.”
Also, that although the place had fire extinguishers and water hoses, nothing was done to promote a rescue. “On the contrary, that day they pepper-sprayed those of us who tried to break the windows,” says one of the testimonies collected by Councilor Cancino. The lobbyist has already asked the Attorney General’s Office to initiate a special surveillance process and to assess the testimonies of the victims’ families.
“These people were under the responsibility, custody and care of the State. They, the policemen, had the obligation to guarantee the lives of these boys who were in a defenseless situation ”. He added that it is urgent that the Prosecutor’s Office present the findings of the investigation that it has been carrying out for two months.
To all this is added that the families now report threats. “It is essential that the criminal and disciplinary investigations investigate the actions of all the agents who were serving at the San Mateo police station at the time of the events,” said Cancino.
Keep reading:
– This was the attack with a machete against a university student in the 26th tunnel.
– Police say that 8 detainees died after fire in CAI of Soacha.
CAROL MALAVER
Deputy editor of EL TIEMPO
Write to us at [email protected]
