Sorry for what happened. We have a comprehensive strategy.”
That was the short response President Carlos Alvarado gave to the countries shocked after two atrocious murders of tourists during the weekend on the coasts of the country.
Alvarado did not have time to give a wider message before the pain of two foreign families that took their daughters in coffins to Spain and Mexico.
Obviously uncomfortable having to give an answer after the murders of Spaniard Arantxa Gutierrez, and Mexican María Trinidad Matus, the president shied away saying that in his almost 100 days of management, 24 mega-operations have been conducted and that he has promoted the approval of the Law of Extinction of Dominion, which seeks to seize assets from organized crime.
Minutes before these brief statements, the president spoke of a plan to attack the insecurity in which the nation is submerged, but in that message he did not even mention these two homicides, which have the citizens astonished and the country in the eye of the world.
We are working hard on these matters,”
said the president, as he left through the back door of a hotel in Escazú of Wednesday afternoon.
In the midst of increasing citizen insecurity and the increase in the number of homicides in the country, the Executive Branch presented an action plan for the 82 cantons of the country.
With the support of the governments of the United States and Colombia on Wednesday, a decree declaring the “Integral Prevention Strategy for Public Safety, Sembremos Seguridad” was declared of public interest.
The plan, which was executed as a pilot approach in 15 cantons during the previous year, will now cover the rest of the national territory.
The initiative seeks to unite security work by the institutions of the Executive Power with the work of local governments. It also provides advice on the part of the National Police of Colombia in matters of protection of the population.
For this plan, the US Embassy has invested $7.5 million to purchase software, Google Maps licenses, and computer equipment.