Colombia will train indigenous Wayuu to assist police in the northern department of La Guajira to deal with insecurity in the region, which borders Venezuela.
“Policemen in the department of La Guajira have linguistic and cultural difficulties. The special force will integrate Wayuu men and women in the security process,” Shelley Oviedo, press secretary of Vice President Francisco Santos told Colombia Reports.
A special Wayuu police school will be opened in Uribia, capital of La Guajira department in August to train 200 young Wayuus aged between 18 and 25.
The national police are sending an elite corps to La Guajira to stop the activities of the illegal armed groups that are terrorising the region.
Members of the Wayuu, the indigenous inhabitants of the desert border region, often face threats and violence from paramilitary and guerrilla groups that operate in the region and make money from the department’s salt mines and smuggling routes.
