July 26, 2022, 11:10 PM
July 26, 2022, 11:10 PM
This Tuesday, the director of the Special Force to Fight Crime (Felcc), Julio César Cossío, pHe sent protection and more police officers to the Departmental Command to be able to enter the Las Londras properties (zone called Pailita) to investigate the clashes over land.
“We, to carry out the respective investigation, need personnel that gives us security (…) It coordinates with the Departmental Command to be able to enter and verify the extremes that circulate on social networks,” said the police chief.
After these statements, the journalists who were present at the press conference asked Cossío about who should provide security to the Bolivian Police. To which the director of the Felcc asked that they not “misunderstand” his statements and explained that he means that they should provide police reinforcement.
“I am stating that, when the Felcc carries out investigative tasks, it does so based on protocols, because To enter a property, the area to be requisitioned must be cleared. in order to neutralize the opponent so that later a multidisciplinary team enters to carry out an analysis. In rural areas, given the extension of the land, more personnel are required, that is why we must coordinate actions with the Departmental Command”, he explained.
Likewise, Cossío said that there is already a police contingent in Las Londras, located in the municipality of El Puente, Guarayos province. However, he specified that for the Felcc agents enter to investigate the kidnapping of a person and the attack of a group of people a higher order must be awaited.
The 21-year-old who was kidnapped by the group of armed hooded men over the weekend, he was released this Monday night, but not before making him sign by force a commitment not to return to the premises overwhelmed and silence the abuses to which he was subjected.
“They held a gun against me and I feared for my life. I was kidnapped for two days by several people who threatened me. They took a photo of me in case I spoke or appeared on television telling all this. Then they made me sign some documents and If I didn’t, they told me they were going to kill me.”said the affected in an interview with Unitel.
The kidnapped young man said that was taken to a shed, where he was tied up, beaten and held at gunpoint by his kidnappers, moreover there were approximately 300 people, most of them with their faces covered.
He explained that after signing the document where demanded that he not return to the conflict zonethey released him in the mountains and in his escape he spent a day and a night walking along the banks of the river until he reached a community of Guarayos, where he asked for help and was able to contact his relatives to let them know that he was alive.
Last Saturday, a group of armed hooded men took over the premises by force from Las Londras (area called Pailitas). Lor they did with a similar method used that October 28 last year when they attacked, kidnapped and tortured policemen, journalists and agricultural workers.
The taking of the property was known through desperate audios of peasant workers who were in the place. “Please, armed hooded men have entered, they grabbed our people. They are in the shed, we need help”, cried out a woman. Another person, in another audio, asked for help: “They have kidnapped four and as the minutes go by they continue to advance and have weapons with silencers.”
The calls for help alerted the police and a contingent moved to the area. However, the police arrived at the Santa María community, a little before Las Londras, waiting for an order to enter.
This Sunday night, the uniformed decided to enter to dislodge the armed group, but they were greeted by a hail of firecrackers and even gunshots, so they had to back off.
The lawyer for the affected journalists in Las Londras, Raquel Guerrero, indicated that there are witnesses who saw Sixto Canaza and Paulino Camacho leading the aggression of the peasants, situation that will be presented before the competent authorities so that the freedom that the judge of Guarayos, Roberto Cruz, granted them is revoked, so that they can be detained again.
