- The authorities added 320 police officers for surveillance between Villa del Rosario (Colombia) and San Antonio del Táchira (Venezuela) | Photo: Migration Colombia
The authorities of Norte de Santander, a department of Colombia bordering the state of Táchira, announced on Sunday, October 13, that they will reinforce security, given the increase in violence in that area.
“We have the purpose of investing nearly 80 billion pesos that are in our development plan in equipment, cameras, the possibility of payment and rewards,” said the governor of Norte de Santander, William Villamizar, in an interview for Union Radio.
Villamizar indicated that in addition to this investment, more than 300 police officers will also be incorporated in the Villa del Rosario sector, which borders San Antonio del Táchira.
“We highlight all this task of support and maintenance for the Colombian National Police and that it will have 320 new surveillance agents for the border and the metropolitan area of Cúcuta,” he said.
Installation of security cameras to reinforce security
In September 2024, the mayor of Cúcuta (capital of Norte de Santander), Jorge Acevedo, reported that they installed security cameras with facial recognition. This measure was intended to reinforce security in the city.
“The security of Cúcuta is being strengthened through the implementation of new security cameras. We had already been working with the ministry to bring around 250 LPR cameras to Cúcuta, which record license plates,” he told Colombian media.
Acevedo pointed out that these cameras are also incorporating the faces of Venezuelan migrants who live in Cúcuta or who are part of the pendular migration. To do this, they work with Migración Colombia.
“They have software that has more than 5 million identified Venezuelan faces,” added the president.
How many Venezuelans are there in Cúcuta?
Acevedo reported that at least 28% of the population of Cúcuta are Venezuelans who emigrated to the neighboring country.
The Observatory of Migrations, Migrants and Human Mobility (OM3), of Migración Colombia, recorded that by January 31, 2024 in Colombia there are 2,857,528 Venezuelan migrants.
The three municipalities of Cúcuta with the highest incidence of groups of this nationality are Bogotá (21.10%), Medellín (8.42%) and Cúcuta (7.66%).
Insecurity in Cúcuta
In March 2024, the ranking of the 50 most violent and unsafe cities in the world revealed that Cúcuta was ranked 43rd on this list.
Data from the Metropolitan Police of Cúcuta (Mecuc) indicate that at least 11 people are victims of robbery in the city every day. In the first two months of 2024, 625 cases of theft from people have been registered, according to figures published by the Colombian newspaper The Opinion.
During the year 2023, Mecuc informed this medium that they reported 4,224 cases of theft from people. This increase in crime was also reflected in other crimes such as murders, since 354 were recorded.
In the case of kidnappings, these went from 46 to 54. These crimes were committed mostly by criminal gangs.
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