Defense Minister Iván Velásquez warned that peace does not mean weakness of the Military and Police Forces, after explaining the human security policy that the government of President Gustavo Petro will develop.
“All this peace does not mean weakness. Peace is not a surrender of the Government or the Military Forces. Peace is a process of collective construction in which all the actors in the conflict have a transcendental role”, explained the Minister.
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He also assured that “the public force will continue its constitutional obligation to ensure the security of Colombians, for which he explained that first demonstrations and concrete actions of willingness to negotiate or welcome by illegal groups are needed.”
“The new human security policy privileges life over death, so it will always be preferred to capture before the confrontations end in deaths”, he stressed.
Minister Velásquez referred to the new form of relationship between the public force and the communities and highlighted the fundamental role that the military forces can play in the development of the regions, where social projects must be supported together with the other State institutions. .
“There is a specific provision here and that is that the public force must continue to comply with its constitutional obligations and that only to the extent that there is that expression of concrete material goodwill can we begin to differentiate the terms of relationship in the actions of the public force,” he added.
Velásquez also referred to military actions against illegal armed groups, assuring that these must always respect the lives of minors.
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“The actors of the illegal organizations have to make a manifestation and concrete action of willingness to negotiate or accept, it depends on the nature of the organizations,” said Minister Velásquez.
