The last time I wrote anything about Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella was early September, when he ended the decade-long suspension of carry licenses and encouraged residents to legally protect themselves.
Like Mexico, Colombia has pretty restrictive gun laws and a powerful criminal element who ignores them with impunity, while average citizens are largely helpless unless they too are willing to break the law.
Now De La Espriella is sending a message to narcoterrorists and lawful citizens alike. A group calling itself the Conquering Self Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada has laid siege to the city of Santa Marta, a popular tourist destination home to about 600,000 people. The group had set fire to vehicles and threatened the residents to stay home or else face the consequences.
De La Espriella, in return, sent the military to Santa Marta, where they killed a high-ranking member of organization. The president himself showed up in Santa Marta earlier this week, and spoke to officials and the press while openly carrying a handgun on his hip. The gun-carrying has upset some of De La Espriella's detractors on the left, and even caught the attention of the New York Times.
The president’s gun display ignited debate across Colombia. In Santa Marta, some praised Mr. De La Espriella for his swift arrival and the strong message he sent to the armed group by deploying troops.
“In the last four years, security was terrible,” keeping tourists away, said Luis Arévalo, 37, who rents tents to beachgoers. “There’s been a change, just one month in, since the Tiger arrived,” he added, using Mr. De La Espriella’s nickname.
“He’s roaring.”
Others in Santa Marta described Mr. De La Espriella’s visit as a publicity stunt. “Everyone says that — pure stunt,” said José Ángel Gutiérrez, a 71-year-old retiree.
... Tiziano Breda, senior analyst for ACLED, said Mr. De La Espriella had set up a confrontation between government forces and the armed group that is the de facto authority in the area, and has ordered similar shutdowns before.
“They are both pushing citizens to abide by their respective rules,” he said. “The armed group says the blockade is continuing until Friday, and the government is encouraging shops and businesses to open already,” he said, adding that this created a real risk of retaliation for civilians who trusted the state and reopened.
Which, frankly, is all the more reason for De La Espriella to encourage Colombians to lawfully arm themselves, and to work with the legislature to reform the country's gun laws so that it's easier to do so.
De La Espriella's decision to open carry isn't a one off. The Times reports that his administration posted a video of the president in the city of Cali on Thursday, where he once again had a handgun on his hip. If he wants the criminal element to see this as a sign of his strength, great, but it's far more important to continue to aggressively combat them and restore law and order to cities where these cartels have become the de facto authorities.
In the meantime, De La Espriella should encourage Colombia's law-abiding citizens to take up arms in self-defense. His open carry is already signaling that, but he should be much more open and explicit about the ability of average, everyday Colombians to protect themselves from the narcoterrorists who want to rule over them with an iron fist.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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