More than 86,000 hectares of forests have been affected in Colombia by fires caused by criminal hands and the dry season, especially in the Orinoquía and the Amazon, affecting the air quality of cities like Bogotá.
The National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) reported this Saturday that, according to the most recent report from the National Crisis Room, from December 16 to February 4, 301 forest fires have been dealt with in 142 municipalities. located in 20 of the 32 departments of the country .
Of these 301 conflagrations, according to a statement from the Unit, 291 have been suffocated by the work of firefighters and the National Disaster Risk Management System (SNGRD).
Interior Minister Daniel Palacios said in a statement to the media that the largest number of fires have been recorded in the Amazon region, with 173 .
He explained that the fires have increased due to the action of criminal groups “that operate in this area of the country.”
Illicit crops and livestock
He explained that the burning of forests is done to open places where coca will be planted later and, on other occasions, people do it to expand the fields for livestock, increasing deforestation.
The efforts of the authorities are concentrated on putting out the flames that affect the forests of the town of Calamar, in the department of Guaviare.
There, according to Minister Palacios, at this time there are ” four sources that have been generating a fire in that area of the national territory .”
Criminal hands of FARC dissidents
For his part, Defense Minister Diego Molano, who yesterday flew over the Chiribiquete National Natural Park, one of those affected by the fires, attributed this environmental crime to the dissidence of the former FARC guerrilla.
“There, the Miller Perdomo column has systematically sought for the last four days to generate forest fires with two purposes: first, to destroy the forest to grab land; and second, to develop illegal extensive ranching actions in order to use resources and launder money ( of drug trafficking) in that area of the country,” Molano said.
In order to contain these criminal activities, the Ministry of Defense launched phase 14 of the Artemisa Campaign, in which 400 members of the public force participate.
To date, the departments most affected by forest fires are Guaviare, Vichada, La Guajira, Caquetá, Córdoba and Bolívar.
The UNGRD detailed that 597 municipalities in the country register some type of alert for forest fires. Of them, 550 have a red alert; 38, the orange alert and another nine, the yellow .
Measures in Bogota
Due to the air pollution that Bogotá has suffered in the last week, as a result of the winds loaded with particulate matter, blown from the Guaviare and Orinoquía regions, the Bogotá authorities are considering taking measures that may even go so far as to declare an alert. environmental.
The Secretary of the Environment, Carolina Urrutia, told local media that “it is possible, due to the information that is coming to us from the stations and what the satellites tell us, that we have the worst fire season in the country in the last 10 or 15 years .”
The official explained that in recent weeks there have been more sources of heat and “more smoke and particulate matter are reaching us, a product of the burning of organic matter by forest fires.”
In the past, Bogotá has declared a yellow alert to protect the health of its inhabitants .