In Diálogos en BC Noticias we spoke with Paula Sánchez, Secretary of the Interior of Manizales about how security is going in the capital of Caldas.
How is the fight against crime going in Manizales?
This is a job, it is a permanent challenge. Every day we are, together with the Metropolitan Police, doing coordinated work to maintain control in the city. If we refer to the figures, I would like to mention that compared to the year immediately prior to this same cut, we have a reduction in homicide of more than 45% compared to the previous year.
This year we have had 10 homicides, but the year before this same date we had 17 homicides and if we look at it regionally Pereira at this moment has 44 homicides, Armenia has 43 and Manizales 10, so it is good sometimes to compare to know the dimensions of the problem we have.
Secretary, precisely regarding homicide issues, in previous days there were several cases of people who were found on slopes. What happened in those cases? What has happened in those types of situations?
In the case of the 10 homicides, two of them have already been solved, that is, two of the 10 homicides already have those responsible in jail. The other eight are on a very good path, unfortunately I cannot give you many details because it corresponds to the judicial confidentiality and confidentiality of the corresponding summary, but I know the details of each one of them. In those particular cases, first, there is no connection between any of them, that is, it is not that there is a gang dedicated to social cleansing or things of this category, that is not happening in Manizales because it is about responsible people. , what has been investigated so far is that some are responsible differently than others.
The second thing is that these are not cases of hitmen, because the modus operandi of hitmen is through firearms, in this particular case it was with a knife or sharp weapon. Well, no one is going to kill another with a sharp weapon. The second characteristic has to do with the fact that the motives or causes that apparently led to those responsible are the strongest hypotheses, because it has the largest number of elements that are intended to be proven in judicial courts, it is that it is due to situations of intolerance, there is a Passionate issue is also involved in some of the cases, there are others that apparently have to do with micro-trafficking, but that is what is being processed precisely in the judicial states at this moment.
So, fortunately what I have to tell you is that of those 10 there are already two completely clarified, there is one in particular of these from forested areas for which there has already been an arrest, there have already been, in parallel, arrests related to micro-trafficking that are They connect in some cases with these homicide cases and we hope that the judicial authorities whose responsibility it is to provide concrete results and judicialization do so in the shortest possible time.
Secretary, on weekends the authorities usually carry out checks. What are you finding in establishments?
I am permanently leading the night operations, especially on weekends, which is when there is more movement. What do we find at night? First, there are some sectors of excess noise and they are mixed sectors. They are sectors where there is commerce, but there are also residences. Example: Milan, Cable, Cyprus. and a specific point on Carrera 23 at night, that’s just to talk about a few cases where there is a greater concentration of rumba, but we have also had some complaints in some neighborhoods and we are going to start making the respective measurements. I am almost always going with the secretary of the environment and the colonel of the police, where we have meetings like one or two in the morning because at that time we find absolutely all the administrators or business owners of the establishments, we are gathering to socialize that they have to comply with all the requirements established by the norm and unfortunately it happened during the last years that a lot was given in the issue of authority, that is, almost what many merchants have told us, but come the first time or It has been many months or many years since they asked me for all the documents that you are asking for.
When you go and ask an establishment to give you the updated emergency plan and verify it on the ground, you are avoiding the tragedies that have occurred in many parts of the country or the world. Where due to lack of evacuation, lack of having a fire extinguisher, due to not having carried out the proper control, there is a fire and there are a number of deaths. That is what we are preventing. So we are protecting the life and integrity of those who go out partying, but also those who don’t. Those who don’t go out partying, who are at home and try to sleep and who can’t fall asleep because of the noise.
What are they doing in Milan?
We have begun to take some noise measurements and we have shown that it is above 60 decibels and here comes a reflection: inside the establishments, even if they want, they can set it at 500 decibels, the important thing is that outside the establishments, the maximum can be heard by neighbors it is 60 decibels so what does it mean? that there are soundproofing obligations for their establishments because in the 2017 modification of the Manizales POT, high-impact mixed use is allowed in that area, for example, Milan, but it also brings with it the obligation that, If I give you the benefit of setting up a nightclub in Milan, you also have an obligation, which is to soundproof your business.
Although I do have to tell you that in any case we have also been making some closures of establishments that do not comply. There are some that just opened and already had minors inside. There are others who, for example, were in the middle of measuring and they lowered the energy blocks so as not to allow the noise to be measured. In other words, these types of maneuvers are not at all loyal on the part of the merchants, some, because the majority behave well, but some merchants have to understand that the authority is there to enforce the rules and they are rules that the first ones They benefit, because the more safe partying there is in Manizales, the more clients they will have and according to the strategic lines that the mayor has set for us, later something will come that will be called a safe seal.
The safe seal for the rumba means that if there is a business that has all the requirements up to date, that the Chamber of Commerce has already paid, that has the copyright, that has the emergency plan up to date, that has the use of the land and everything else, and that is also, for example, soundproofed, you will be able to have more time during operating hours. You will have prerogatives in different ways. So I believe this is for the benefit of everyone.
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