The National Protection Unit or UNP is an entity attached to the Ministry of the Interior; which is in charge of providing the security and protection service to people at risk; as a consequence of their activities, whether in politics, justice, journalism, trade union, community, economic, in defense of human rights, among others.
This body brings together the various protection programs and entities of the Ministry of the Interior, such as: the Colombian National Police, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, the Superior Council of the Judiciary, and the Administrative Department of Security, etc.
THE AMOUNT
The UNP is in charge of more than 7,000 people at latent risk and manages a budget of more than one trillion pesos.
Through a statement, the Attorney General’s Office alerted the Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada, and the director of the National Protection Unit, UNP, Augusto Rodríguez Ballesteros, about the high risk in which people protected with the assigned security schemes find themselves. by this unit, whose employees have been unemployed since January 30, 2023. Therefore, a contingency plan must be activated, since the provision of the protection service to the beneficiaries cannot be impaired or interrupted.
Consequently, the delegate attorney for Human Rights, Javier Sarmiento Olarte, pointed out that “we must have shock plans to react immediately and in a timely manner in the face of circumstances that may jeopardize the effective provision of the protection service in charge of the State”.
“If a situation arises that affects the fundamental rights, life and physical integrity of a protected person due to the deterioration or interruption in the provision of the protection service, the disciplinary investigations that may take place will be carried out,” added the Attorney.
For its part, the National Association of Security Workers, which brings together workers from the National Protection Unit, has stated that the indefinite strike is a consequence of the alleged irregularities that have been taking place in the institution due to recruitment issues; therefore, they request a dialogue table with President Petro to expose the problem.
“There are many things that are wrong within the National Protection Unit. We hoped that this would be the government of change, but we have had nothing. Discounts will be reflected in the next liquidation. For example, the labor incidence of travel expenses and the transport subsidy was also withdrawn from social benefits. The director of the UNP He is completely unaware of the management of the entity”, commented Giovanni Gallo, president of the National Association of Security Workers.
In conclusion, the situation is critical for those who must entrust their lives to this institution attached to the Ministry of the Interior; due to the fact that in recent months there have been reports of the false armoring of vehicles, the discovery of drugs in protection cars, the rental of security schemes to people who did not need it, the use of vehicles to transport aliases ‘Matamba ‘, a narco escaped from prison, and at the same time, the existence of recruitment mafias.