Bogotá.- More than 11,000 soldiers and police officers will guarantee security at the inauguration of Colombia’s president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, which will take place on August 7 in Cali, the main city in the southwest of the country, the Ministry of Defense reported this Thursday.
The security deployment includes “land, maritime, riverine, and air capabilities” for the metropolitan area of Cali, where more than 2.7 million inhabitants live, the Ministry of Defense detailed upon concluding a security council in that city, the third largest in Colombia after Bogotá and Medellín.
The Ministry added in a statement that “for security reasons, the airspace of Cali will have restrictions for private drones,” since Colombian guerrilla groups adapt explosives to these devices to attack military units and even civilians in conflict zones.
“The Colombian State is prepared to guarantee security before, during, and after the presidential inauguration. Our purpose is singular: to ensure that this day unfolds with absolute normalcy, tranquility, and full respect for our institutions,” stated the acting Minister of Defense, Angélica Verbel.
The president-elect has explained that he chose Cali because of its location in a region hit for decades by guerrilla violence and drug trafficking and because he wants the beginning of his administration to symbolize support for the Military Forces.
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On August 7, Cali will be permanently overflown by Army and Air Force helicopters and airplanes “to monitor and verify the security apparatus and support any reaction promptly,” a task in which security forces’ drones will also be used, the information added.
According to the president-elect, José Manuel Restrepo, among the attendees who have confirmed their presence in Cali for De la Espriella’s inauguration are King Felipe VI of Spain and the presidents of Argentina, Javier Milei, and Paraguay, Santiago Peña.
Verbel added that the coordination between State institutions “will be the main asset to guarantee the tranquility of Colombians and of the national and international delegations that will attend” the inauguration.
The unprecedented transfer of the presidential inauguration ceremony from Bogotá to Cali was approved on Wednesday by the Senate, one day after the House of Representatives did so.
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With this decision, the joint session of Congress in which De la Espriella will be sworn in as President of the Republic will be held on August 7 at the USC Arena, of the Santiago de Cali University of , and not in the Elliptical Hall of the National Capitol, the traditional venue for presidential inaugurations.
