At least four people have died on Monday in the northern department of Valle del Cauca, in western Colombia, in an incident that authorities are already investigating as a possible settling of scores.
According to the departmental police, the four victims were leaving a party in the municipality of Piedras de Moler when, on the road, they were intercepted by four unknown assailants who, after opening fire, fled the scene.
According to RCN Radio, security authorities have announced that a special group dedicated to the criminal investigation of the incident has already been set up and that, with the collaboration of the Prosecutor’s Office, it will lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of the attack.
As pointed out by the Valle police commander, Colonel Ever Gómez, one of the victims had a judicial record, which has given the authorities a clue that the incident could be the result of a settling of scores.
Later, Víctor Álvarez, mayor of the town of Cargago, close to where the incident took place, said that the authorities have not yet ruled out that the deaths of these four people were the result of a confrontation between gangs.
Alvarez has pointed directly to a group called ‘Los Flacos’ which, according to him, is immersed in a process of division, which is generating confrontation with the so-called ‘Nueva Alianza’. So far these are only hypotheses. There is still no clear information from the organizations», he concluded.
The Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz) has indicated that this would be the tenth massacre that has occurred in Valle del Cauca so far this year, and the fifth in the north of the department.
