THE MAYOR OF TUMACO JOINED THE JOURNEY OF AWARENESS OF LANDMINES

The municipal administration of Tumaco, on April 4, in the developing of the International Day of awareness against Landmines, joined the cause rolling up his pants, a symbolic act that seeks to raise awareness and reject the indiscriminate use of these devices ; a serious problem that in Colombia has claimed more than 9 000 victims, of which 10 percent are children and more than 40 percent civilians, and has also placed our country in a sad third place in the world in terms of number of victims, after Afghanistan and Cambodia. An landmine is an hole explosive device with an internal charge, which is buried or camouflaged and produces its explosion when activated by the weight of a person. Generally, mines are not placed in isolation but together planted in an area, known as minefields. Insurgent armies frequently use them not only to reduce the adversary's military capability or channel and slow down the enemy, but also to weaken the economic and socio-political infrastructure. Consequently, much of the field lines by insurgent forces have a clear purpose of harassment and are located in crop fields, water wells, roads and even towns. The consequences of landmines are multiple and complex, there are public health consequences, including injuries and damages to the injured tissue, large amounts of blood for treatment and subsequent surgical interventions, especially amputation, there are also environmental consequences of these weapons wich are non-degradable, especially if constructed of plastic, those made with a wooden bear the risk that the explosive is dissolved and pass the toxic to the soil, the explosión causes a soil disturbance The disappearance of plants, insects and bacteria that contribute greatly to soil erosion. Agriculture and mining form the backbone of the economy in most countries affected by landmines making the fertile land to be abandoned because of the impossibility of cultivating the land and causing the subsequent rural exodus. Tumaco is not indifferent to the campaign proposal from the United Nations and various governmental organizations and NGOs to consider and reject the violent actions of groups outside the law affecting the civilian population, particularly children. The mayor, Neftali Correa Diaz, invited all people to reject the indiscriminate use of these weapons of war, and in general to any form of violence and proposed to sow the fertile Tumaco´s land with cocoa, plantain, palm and other crops to benefit the people, rather than further increases in cases of mutilation and murder of civilians.