Before a supervisory judge, the Office of the Attorney General brought charges against the former mayor of San Gil (Santander), Ariel Fernando Rojas Rodríguez; and the former manager of the water and sewerage company in San Gil (Empresa de Acueducto, Alcantarillado y Aseo de San Gil (Acuasan) in Spanish), Héctor Alberto Ardila Sandoval, for his alleged responsibility in the crimes of damage to natural resources and environmental contamination.
Likewise, at the request of the accusing body, the judge issued a protection measure for the community of San Gil, and ordered the Mayor’s Office and Acuasan to carry out the actions to change, mitigate and stop pollutant discharges in sector named Los Aljibes. The serious situation originated a landslide on July 26, 2018 in area Paseo del Mango which injured dozens of people and caused economic losses for the inhabitants.
According to the experts of the Special Office against Human Rights Violations of the Office of the Attorney General, Acuasan carries out pollutant discharges of mud and contaminated water in the area where the sewage of neighborhood La Quinta, which does not have a sewage system, also arrives. As a result, there was a saturated wetland, causing the aforementioned disaster.
The evidence shows that authorities in San Gil have not acted to mitigate the situation, which means that the community continues in imminent danger and the environmental damage continues.
The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.