President Petro announces emergency measures in the Colombian southwest | News

Colombian President Gustavo Petro presented on Sunday a series of measures to address the emergency in the southwest of the country due to the landslides that caused the total closure of one of the main highways in that region last week.

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In the company of the vice president, ministers and social organizations, the Colombian head of state communicated the measures agreed upon by the Extraordinary Council of Ministers held in the municipality of Ipiales, in the department of Nariño.

Gustavo Petro indicated that the first measure is related to the supply of fuel, in which it was decided to establish alternative access routes for the supply of gasoline and other fuels.

Petro explained that the supply of fuel to the affected areas of the departments of Cauca and Nariño will be by sea and by land from Ecuador.

Other of the measures announced by Gustavo Petro has to do with the purchase of
crops to producers in the department of Nariño, which will be distributed in impoverished areas with the highest hunger rates in the country.

He also maintained that the Colombian State will buy land in the departments of Cauca and Nariño affected by the landslides to help the people who lost their homes due to the landslides.

"We want each family that had half a hectare as property before the disaster to have five hectares of fertile land and be able to start a greater period of prosperity," he said.

The Colombian government promised to organize round tables with the sectors affected by the landslides, such as the region's dairy industry, which intends to buy more than 400,000 tons of milk from local producers.

The Colombian authorities confirmed the arrival of 45 tank cars with fuel to the department of Nariño, coming from Ecuadorian soil.

“Successfully, it was possible to arrive from the Republic of Ecuador with 460 thousand gallons of fuel that the department of Nariño urgently required. International Solutions in times of road emergency”, reported the Presidency of the Republic on its Twitter account.

Due to the landslides that caused the closure of one of the main highways in the southeast of the country, President Gustavo Petro had to suspend his tour of Europe and return to the country to take charge of the situation.