A wave of violence attributed to criminal gangs shakes Cúcutawhere at least 30 people were murdered in May in attacks by hitmen.
One of the most notorious crimes occurred on April 14 when the social leader and citizen observer Jaime Vásquezknown for denouncing cases of corruption, was shot dead by a hitman who chased him to a bakery where the victim tried to take refuge when he realized that they were going to kill him.
Vásquez’s murder was the first in a series of crimes that have impacted this city for nearly 800 thousand inhabitants where violence has worsened in recent weeks due to frequent attacks by hitmen on public roads or in commercial establishments.
The same weekend that Vásquez was murdered The Police recorded nine murders in the city.
The spiral of violence increased after the murder, also shot, of the merchant José Luis Pabón Ojeda, on May 16.
Pabón Ojeda was the father of Jayson Omar Pabón, alias ‘Pepino’, alleged member of the criminal gang Los Manzaneros, in conflict with the gangs Los AK47 and Los Porras or Familia P. According to authorities, the family gang is supposedly led from La Picota prison in Bogotá by a subject named Ever Carreño Corredor, alias ‘ Porras’.
Bullying through videos
On May 17 there was a massacre in the Caño Limón neighborhood that left three people dead, and while fear increases among citizens, criminals publish threatening videos on social networks in which they are shown with rifles and grenades to intimidate people. .
“What has been established with police intelligence is that a group calling itself Family P.” has gathered, made up of The Porras and The AK47sto have “illegal income, control of narcotics and extortion in some places in the city, fighting against Los Manzaneros,” he assured. the commander of the Cúcuta Metropolitan Police, Colonel William Quintero.
The AK47 also published a video in which they threaten the owners of currency exchange houses and warn that those who collaborate with their rival, alias ‘Pepino’, will be killed.
Homicides almost daily
The mayor of Cúcuta, Jorge Acevedoattributes the wave of murders to revenge between gangs, but regardless of that, homicides continue almost daily.
“The majority of homicides are due to settling scores, we are going to continue working for the safety of the people of Cucuteño. Today theft from vehicles, people and commercial establishments has decreased, But the violent deaths due to the settling of scores muddy the image of Cúcuta,” said Acevedo.
However, there are crimes that cause commotion in the city, such as the one perpetrated during the Mother’s Day weekend, which in Cúcuta is celebrated on the last Sunday of May, when Jorge Enrique Galvis Carrillo, rector of the Comfanorte school, was murderedwhen I had dinner in a restaurant.
The Police have made some arrests, like the one last Thursday, of a couple identified as belonging to the Los AK47 gangfrom whom two grenades, two firearms, ammunition and drugs were confiscated, but on the same day two men were murdered by hitmen in the Nuevo Horizonte neighborhood.
According to Colonel Quintero, “apparently one of the deceased sold narcotics in the area and had had some dispute because he had left the Los Porras group”.
Unknown people attacked the house of observer Francisco Palaciosthreatened for his job, and the Police are investigating whether this attack is related to the murder, a month and a half ago, of Jaime Vásquez, the other citizen observer.
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