BRIEFS. Public safety

Colón police accused of abuse of authority

Pablo Salazar, chairman of the Consejo Municipal de Santa Isabel, decried abuses of local police units yesterday, claiming that they had exceeded their authority and no longer respected government officials.

Salazar told members of the Consejo that he was held at gunpoint by one unit while on his way to the municipal offices. Moreover, on a different occasion, he recounted his experience of being detained at two checkpoints and a pistol put in his face by police officers, who accused him of carrying drugs in his car.

“We spent a very embarrassing moment, when we left Palenque at 5 a.m. with my colleague Tomás Salazar and another lady, to move a few bags of cement and coconuts, when we were stopped on the road from Viento Frío to Nombre de Dios,” he said.

Chairman of the provincial council of coordination, Manuel Walter Chiari, pledged that he would forward Salazar’s complaints to the Dirección de Responsabilidad Policial and the province’s governor.