Latin Press

La Jornada Newspaper
Monday, November 11, 2024, p. 30

Bogota. The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, declared a natural disaster situation throughout the country due to climate variability that generates unpredictable and unusual impacts. He commented that although the declaration refers to any nation where impacts of diverse nature are reported in different regions, most of the efforts will focus on Alta Guajira (north) and Chocó (northwest) due to heavy rainfall, as well as in Bogotá. , where water scarcity prevails.

In the case of Chocó, there are already 25,355 affected families in 22 of its municipalities, where 70 percent of the department is affected.

The president warned that the current rainy season has not yet ended, which will last throughout December according to forecasts, so new critical points could appear. The measure adopted to address emergencies seeks to transfer budget resources from other entities that do not have a need to regions suffering from climate change, Petro explained.

In another order of information, Julio César Betancourt Medina, a guerrilla demobilized within the framework of the 2017 Peace Agreement, died after being kidnapped and tortured by armed individuals in the municipality of Corinto, in the north of the department of Cauca.