The Governor of Antioquia, Sergio Fajardo, said, “Convictions are stronger than fears”, confirming that even though plans to assassinate him were in the works, he will not stop fighting corruption and working towards complete transparency; on the contrary, he said, “we will work harder”.

As authorities scramble to revamp the Governor’s security detail and figure out where threats originated, Fajardo claims his intuition points to the “criminal organization that stems from corruption, which is as or more difficult to defeat than criminal gangs or guerrillas.”

Over the past 17 years, attorney Maria Jose Fletcher, co-director of the NGO Vida Legal Assistance, says she has met Colombian women in the U.S. victims of human trafficking.

“We find Colombian women working as housekeepers, sometimes exploited, also forced into prostitution and other sexual businesses,” she said. One of the main concerns for local authorities is that victims are often too scared to come forward and an alarming number of cases are never reported.

As of July 3^rd, any financial institution offering mortgage loans for social interest housing (VIS, of up to 76,5 million pesos) and priority interest housing (VIP, of up to 39,6 million pesos) can offer five percent interest rates during the first seven years of the loan, due to the Government’s most recent injection of funds.

Housing Minister, Germán Vargas Lleras, announced that 1,46 billion pesos were added to the Mortgage Stabilization Fund (Frech), which will benefit about 140,000 people as long as they are approved for a mortgage and have not benefited from this incentive before; they also must not fall more than three months behind in their mortgage payments.