The mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, participated in the forum on public order early this morning at the City Council, where she reiterated her call for truth, justice and reform as the key to rebuilding trust between citizens and their authorities.

She also showed some fragments of the videos delivered to the judicial authorities of the events that occurred during the violent days that the city lived, which show police abuse by some members of the institution, in addition to the vandalism events where infraestructure was affected and where several soldiers were attacked.

“There is clear evidence of both vandalism in different parts of the city, as well as cases of judicial abuse. But it is important to remember that what unleashed all these events was the case of police abuse that triggered, similar to cases in other cities around the world, a very violent day of protest over repeated cases of police abuse and their systematic impunity. Javier Ordoñez was the colombian equivalent of George Floyd in the United States,” said the mayor.

The Mayor stressed that what happened to Javier Ordoñez was an act, not only illegal, but inhuman, cruel and systematic, which unleashed a wave of protests, unprecedented in the city´s history.

“It was impossible to foresee that this event was going to be the trigger, instead of another one, it could have been any of the thousands of cases of police abuse. This case ended up taking dimensions and connotations that we obviously did not see coming, and that have ended up producing the unfortunate events that we have all lived, and the ones we have to get the truth of, so that nothing of what happened remains in impunity ”, Indicated the Mayor.

She assured the council that in order to rebuild trust, the first thing is to get to the truth about everything that happened, so that this does not happen again in Bogotá or anywhere else in the country. "Vandalism and criminal acts, but also the excessive use of force, must be clarified," she emphasized.

To achieve this, the District´s Administration has been documenting all the complaints and the evidence that will allow the pertinent authorities to administer justice. In addition to providing psychosocial support to the families of the injured, and of the fatal victims, of these painful and unfortunate events.

“Rebuilding trust between the communities, the Police, the Mayor's Office and the different authorities is fundamental. This is not just about going to paint a CAI. There are deep legitimate pains for both the National Police and the citizens, because they were attacked. To ignore that pain would be foolish,” said the Mayor.

Likewise, she stated that the city cannot remain submerged in this episode of pain and, on the contrary, must come out stronger and with more confidence with each other.

She stressed, that the Mayor's Office does not stigmatize the Police, on the contrary, it recognizes their work. But she was emphatic on the importance of recognizing, investigating and bringing justice in cases of police abuse, which cannot happen.

“We will have to draw many lessons from this, what really ocurred, so that it does not happen to us again; how to ensure that security and coexistence is not lost by these events. We have to reorganize the police service, and the most historical lesson, is to stop the recurrence of cases of authority abuse”.

Details of the events that occurred in the past week

During her speech, the Mayor delivered a detailed report to the city´s  councilors on the actions carried out by the District´s Administration between the 9th and 11th of september in the city, from the moment that Javier Ordoñez's death was known.

"At 6:00 a.m. on September 9, I received a call from the commander in charge of the Bogotá´s Metropolitan Police, Colonel Sarmiento, informing me that a case of alleged police abuse had occurred. Hours later, they informed me that the man had been transferred to a CAI, that he had felt ill there and that they had taken him to a hospital where unfortunately he had died. Today we know that this was a lie, and that lie is recognized by the Minister of National Defense himself,” said the Mayor.

The acts of violence that were unleashed after this case of police abuse were regrettable, the mayor said, 10 people lost their lives and 305 citizens were injured (75 by firearm). In addition, 216 members of the National Police saw their physical integrity attacked.

The Mayor recalled that after hearing the case of Javier Ordoñez, on September 9, she personally convened and led the Coexistence Committee, the Police table and the Human Rights Committee, where the Attorney General was asked to assume preferential power in the investigations of police abuse, that as of July, were up to 138 cases in Bogotá, and were only 38 were processed by the police. 

“That session ends at approximately 8:30 p.m. and they give me the information that about nine CAIs were not only being vandalized, but set on fire. So we decided to distribute ourselves, with my team, as to be able to attend the different instances of district and national coordination in the face of the events,” she recalled.

In addition, she pointed out to the councilors that she led the Unified Command Post (UCP) until dawn the other day, from the city's Metropolitan Police. “At that moment it was already evident that what was happening was very serious and that it was multiplying every half hour. In addition, it required that we all be absolutely focused and coordinated ”.

“No one, as far as I know, neither at the District´s nor at the National´s  Unified Command Posts, gave any arbitrary, illegal, or unconstitutional order. Nobody, there was not a person who said, defend the CAI with blood and fire,” the district´s mandatary emphatically assured.

The instructions that were given where focused on these issues: join the two shifts so that the city would not be left with only 750 surveillance men; The points where the available force and the ESMAD (special police force) should arrive were prioritized through the security cameras; protect TransMilenio portals and guarantee not only mobility but also the protection of users; and finally request reinforcements because there was not enough protective capacity”. 

“The Police did not stop getting as many reinforcements as possible for Bogotá. The fastest reinforcement that was able to arrive did so at around midnight, and the XIII Brigade left to guard the TransMilenio patios,” explained Claudia López.

She stressed that all the emergency entities of the District were operating non-stop, "Our entire health system, the Regulatory Center for Urgencies and Emergencies, worked, as always, 24 hours to assist the injured."

She also reiterated that on the most difficult night the city had in recent years, she did not go to sleep, as many pointed out, but led the UCP from the Bogotá Metropolitan Police Command until dawn on the 10th of September. 

"The report I had from CRUE that day was heartbreaking to say the least, at that time we had a report of 58 injured, and the information that apparently the majority was caused by firearms,”emphasized the Mayor.

On September 10, as a priority task, she visited each of the hospitals where the wounded from the previous night were found, as well as the uniformed men who´s physical integrity was affected.

Likewise, the presence of the different members of the cabinet in the Unified Command Posts continued, as to be able to control the public order situation that day.

“I thank General Vargas of the Police for the effort they made to get reinforcements in a matter of hours. Today Bogotá does not have 300 ESMAD units, it has 1,100. It also has more Force troops available”, she reported.

By September 10, the decision was made to have a presence and deployment plan, with better supervision and control of the stations and members of police who are located in the neighborhoods.

Likewise, there was a reinforcement in the presence of officers at the stations to support the commanders in the decision-making process. “They didn't just go to give orders, but to reflect with them on what was happening. I know for sure, because I saw General Rodríguez clearly saying to those colonels that "protecting life was the priority",

Mayor López pointed out that on September 10, with all the reinforcements the city received, the situation was better prevented. “This coordinated plan between the Mayor's Office, the Metropolitan Police and the national level substantially improved the situation. On September 9, we had 49 CAIs affected, the next day we had 21. On September 9, we had 161 injured soldiers, on September 10 there were 2”.

On September 9, 116 citizens were treated in the public and private hospital network, while on September 10, 77. However, the mayor reiterated that it is unfortunate that due to these events on September 9 the city had 7 deaths, on September 10, 3 and 11, 1.
The mayor thanked the families of the injured and deceased for their messages of caution and non-violence in the face of the events that occurred.

“Never in Bogotá had 216 police officers and 305 civilians been injured in the course of three days. Less so, have 9 people killed by firearms and another see another woman killed by the vandals who ran over her. These events require recognizing the seriousness of what happened and an act of forgiveness as we have reiterated since last week," she said.

The city´s mayor concluded that this reflection and forgiveness are also for the members of the Police who were injured "No one deserves to be attacked or violated in that way."