More than 200 people have disappeared in Colombia’s third largest city Cali in the first six months of 2012, the local Ombudsman’s Office said Monday.
What causes most concern about the disappearances, “is the large number of minors who disappear. In the last three months, 32 minors — of which 25 girls, disappeared,” an Ombudsman official told local newspaper El Pais.
According to the Ombudsman’s Office, people disappear because they no longer want to live with their parents, try to avoid paying debts, run off with the neighbor’s wife or are forcibly disappeared by an illegal armed group.
In 2011, 448 people disappeared in Cali. Among the disappeared were 94 women and 21 minors. 114 missing persons reappeared that year.
According to Colombian authorities, some 55,000 Colombians currently are reported missing and feared dead.
