Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas is seeking cuts of 50 percent in the security details of government officials following a peace accord with Marxist guerrillas last year. Colombia’s National Protection Unit guards about 6,500 Colombians, including trade union leaders, political activists and journalists, and the 268 members of Congress. “No one, other than the President, can disobey with bodyguards traffic lights or traffic rules,” Mayor Enrique Penalosa wrote in a post on Twitter last year. In 2012, a hitman stuck an explosive device to the vehicle of former Interior and Justice Minister Fernando Londono while it was stopped at traffic lights. There were 187 kidnappings in Colombia in 2016, according to the police, which is 95 percent fewer than in 2000.

Source: National Post January 18, 2017 18:19 UTC