Duque says that 99% of the blockades in Valle del Cauca are lifted

Blockades leave millions of dollars in losses to Colombian coffee 4:53

(CNN Spanish) -

The president of Colombia, Iván Duque, said at dawn this Friday at a press conference that 99% of the road blockades in Valle del Cauca have been lifted.

"The blockades are simply illegal and are an attack on the rights of citizens, we will continue working together to confront this phenomenon throughout the national territory and in particular in the department of Valle de Cauca," said the president after a meeting of the Council of Security in Cali.

Duque said that constant police and army patrols are maintained throughout Valle del Cauca and that progress will continue in the capture of leaders of armed groups who are being investigated for acts of vandalism in Cali.

Protests in Cali, Colombia, on June 17.

(Photo by PAOLA MAFLA / AFP via Getty Images)

The president also added that the Ministry of Defense and the Interior will have a presentation in the morning of the measures adopted by the National Government after having implemented the guarantee measures for the exercise of peaceful protest in the country.

During the press conference, Duque also informed the public that, in a joint operation between the National Police, the Army and the Attorney General's Office, alias "Macho", the main national leader of the criminal gang "Los Pelusos", was captured. , who has accusations of murders of social leaders, extortion, drug trafficking and terrorism.

The president ended his press conference by announcing that from next semester enrollment will begin at no cost in universities and public technological institutions for people from strata one, two and three in the country, who are the lowest-income in Colombia.

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Ivan Duque