Bogotá councilwoman files complaint against mayor for failing to prevent cathedral attack

Denver Newsroom, Oct 6, 2022 / 14:10 pm

A complaint has been filed with Colombia's attorney general’s office against Bogotá mayor Claudia López to determine her responsibility in the Sept. 28 attack on the Bogotá cathedral by pro-abortion feminists.

The complaint was filed by city councilwoman Diana Diago of the Democratic Center Party, who accused López of not fulfilling her “constitutional and legal duties in maintaining public order” and of “blaming the police commander” for what happened at the cathedral.

The attack on the cathedral

The night of Sept. 28, a group of feminists tried to set fire to the doors of the Bogotá cathedral. The incident occurred during the march for the Day for the Decriminalization and Legalization of Abortion and in view of officials from the mayor’s office, who accompanied the demonstration. 

In a video posted by the press and on social media, workers from the mayor’s office are seen preventing a group of police officers from taking action. After several minutes, the feminists were removed by the officers.

The next morning, the mayor made a statement on Twitter about what happened at the cathedral and criticized the chief of the Bogotá Police, Brigadier General Carlos Fernando Triana Beltrán.

“This is vandalism. It has and deserves social and legal sanction. This video was sent to me by the commander of @PoliciaBogota. Why, instead of recording, didn’t you enforce the district protocol and the Law? I ask with respect, do you have an order from your national command to do nothing and let it happen?” López wrote.

The complaint against López

In a video posted on the Bogotá city council’s social media, Councilwoman Diago criticized the mayor for “washing her hands and blaming the police commander” for what happened at the cathedral.

“Mayor, you’re the chief of police and even if you don’t like it, you have constitutional and legal duties to maintain public order,” she said.

Article 315 of the Colombian Constitution states that “the mayor is the top police authority of the municipality. The National Police will promptly and diligently comply with the orders given by the mayor through the respective commander.”

The councilwoman pointed out to López that “the alleged omission of your duties allowed the primatial cathedral, the emblematic church of Catholics, to suffer material and moral damage due to the wrongs, due to the offenses committed by this group of vandals.”

“Because of the foregoing, I filed a formal complaint with the Attorney General’s Office to investigate your conduct. This cannot go unpunished; you have to fulfill your duties, defend the city and citizenry, and not be silent in the face of these acts of vandalism by people who may share your ideology,” she concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.