Maribel Gallo Díaz, a sports journalist from the city, was robbed while traveling on a motorcycle to the Alfonso López stadium to cover the match between Atlético Bucaramanga and Millonarios for the second round of the league.
The communicator told Vanguardia that she was going barbecue in this vehicle, which was driven by her partner. It was approximately 6:40 pm this Sunday, January 28.
“We were going along Carrera 27 and when we reached 11th Street, where the La Merced Clinic is to go up and get to the journalists’ entrance area to the stadium, a boy who was alone on a motorcycle approached us. “This person tore the chain I was wearing, he made two quick attempts and on the second he managed to burst it,” the journalist said.
Prior to my arrival at the stadium I was a victim of crime. Fortunately it was not serious, it did not become serious. The shock and feeling of enormous sadness for feeling so vulnerable is inevitable. Already present in the Alfonso. May it be a good game to get through this bitter pill.
— Maribel Gallo Díaz (@maribelgallo_)
January 29, 2024
Gallo Díaz pointed out that after the rap, she and her partner almost fell off the motorcycle, but they managed to maneuver and remain standing.
The assailant fled while the victim reported what happened to police officers who were serving at the sporting event.
“I was shocked, still, with the helplessness of anguish. The one on the motorcycle moved forward, continued on his way and turned to look at us and laughed. It was a Boxer or TVS 100 type motorcycle, we couldn’t see the license plates. Fortunately he didn’t manage to knock us down,” said the victim.
Read also: Bucaramanga offers $30 million for information on the murderers of TRO workers
The journalist pointed out that the stolen chain is of medium economic value and that in addition to the theft, she had a scratch on her neck.
“It could have been worse, as we have seen that they knock people down. Some people have linked the robbery to the Bucaramanga fans, to the bar, but I have the feeling that it was not like that, that it was an outsider who took advantage of the massiveness of the event to commit the robbery,” Maribel Gallo concluded.
TRO official murdered
Humberto Plata León, 35, another media worker, was a victim of the crime that plagues the city.
It happened around noon last Saturday, January 27, when the victim was waiting for a public service bus at the entrance to the La Juventud neighborhood, in the north of Bucaramanga, and was intercepted by two assailants on a motorcycle.
Plata León resisted and received a sharp weapon wound at chest level. Although the criminals did not take his belongings, they did take his life at the scene.
The deceased worked for renowned television channels such as TRO, Signal Colombia and the production company Mediapro Colombia, which is in charge of broadcasting the football matches on the Win Sports channel.
His brother Jairo Plata, who also works for the TRO channel, assured Vanguardia that Humberto worked as a camera assistant in the broadcast of the match between Alianza FC and Deportivo Cali that was played on Friday night in the city of Valledupar.
“He was coming from Valledupar and a friend who was with him told us that Humberto got off at the Colseguros Norte bridge to take the bus that would take him to a village in Suratá, where he lived with his wife and three minor children. Apparently, the criminals tried to rob him and injured him,” said the brother.
The mayor of Bucaramanga, Jaime Andrés Beltrán, offered up to $30 million for information to find the two responsible for this murder that has the media in mourning.