Liliana Cardona Marín
This week at a press conference, Mayor Diego Ramos mentioned a problem that is constantly being complained about by citizens: the increase in the number of people living on the streets, which increases the perception of insecurity and all eyes are on the actions of the police and the Secretary of Government, but the matter has more depth than width.
Juan Carlos Sepúlveda, Secretary of Government of Dosquebradas, referred to the issue, to explain that behind what is perceived as a problem of public order, there is a whole social network.
Who are they and why did they come?
“No matter how much we carry out a characterization or a daily census, it will never coincide with us, 300 is the average figure, because this type of population comes to us from other cities and some go through, others stay temporarily and the rest permanently Of course, we cannot ignore the fact that many are from this municipality, Pereira or Santa Rosa and have a close family nucleus, but due to their situation they no longer have them at home and remain on the street”, says Sepúlveda.
The secretary continues the explanation of the subject with another point that the mayor touched on, about the end of an intervention of more than 100 consumer people, of which now there are not even 15. “It was a very nice process, because I lived it personally and It was during the Pandemic, because we all had to be guarded and it turns out that we adapted the Municipality’s coliseum, we took them by presidential order that no one could be on the streets and many were taken against their will.
During this time they provided them with three meals a day and two snacks, a hygiene kit, blankets, clean clothes, recreation, books, and even methadone (at that time there were less than 120, which is why now there is concern that they are more than double) but There was no way to keep them in the coliseum, they took it as a hotel, they left with the mat and the rest on their shoulders and returned at dawn with nothing and to ask for food.
“The last ones that remained were eight, the program disappeared and the work that we had been doing so beautifully ended due to the theft of matter. At this moment we are not providing this service and not because the administration does not want to do anything for them, but because they lacked will”.
The task against the pots
“There are several things that come together: Secretary of Government in direct relationship with police, direct relationship with security. ‘This one is going to rob me, this one is going to rob me’, which is why I clarify that we are not the ones in charge of food, nor the social programs. Now who feeds the pots? The answer is homeless people who consume heroin, but who feeds that person who feeds the pot? The answer is good citizens through alms and bad citizens, when they give $2,000 because they throw out their garbage or take the useless to the nearest ravine”, emphasizes Juan Carlos Sepúlveda.
The same thing happens on the roads with the coins to clean the glass or the bread that is delivered by weighing when it is in the bakeries, but that they resell. It’s a chain. The media also fail to play a more active role in truly showing the negative effects of consumption, making zombies visible.
“This issue is so serious that if we dismantle a gang, the three or four that remain under the detainees, each one forms their own group and the problem multiplies instead of diminishing,” the secretary pointed out.
Hand in hand with another Secretariat
When a citizen perceives these people, he only thinks of the absence of authority, but the calls to develop the work in this sense are the Secretaries of Social Development, because they have the public policy and the resources within the Development Plan. The Secretaries of Health, Education, Culture and Sport also provide accompaniment.
Given
A last group of eight remained from the program in the coliseum and were taken to special recovery sites, only two advanced the entire process and are now working boys.
Cipher
There are generally 300 homeless people in the Industrial Municipality.
Do you give alms?
Ovidio Valencia – passerby
“I don’t like to give, because it seems to me that this is pandering so that people do nothing and there is more and more laziness.”
Maria Garcia – passerby
“Not. If I can, I give them food, because they are going to spend it on something else, you know. He gives them a pound of beans and they go to exchange or sell it right there.”
Luis Alberto López – passerby
“Normally I don’t give them, because that is sponsoring laziness in some and drug addiction in others. Which leads to them becoming incompetent and giving everything to them”.
Martha Lucía Cock – passerby
“First, I did give some coins, but I began to think that this money is to do them more harm, because they are going to consume, it is better if I share a coffee with milk or bread.”