Colombia jails 3 people accused of scamming child hunger program
BOGOTA _ A judge in Colombia has jailed three individuals on charges they stole nearly $800,000 from a program to feed children and lower the infant mortality rate in the country’s poorest state.
Of those jailed one is an employee of Colombia’s state-run welfare agency and the other two are linked to a foundation accused of inflating contracts for services in La Guajira department along the Caribbean coast.
In total 11 people are suspected of scamming the agency out of more than $2 million since 2011.
La Guajira has the highest child malnourishment rate in Colombia, at 11 per cent, and stories of children dying have proliferated recently as a drought affecting the area has intensified. Most of those affected are semi-nomadic Wayuu Indians who have lived on the peninsula for centuries.
The Associated Press
Alwin Marshall-Squire is the Editor-in-Chief of S-Q Publications Inc., overseeing editorial strategy for GTA Weekly, GTA Today, and Vision Newspaper. He leads the publications’ mission to deliver bold, original journalism focused on the people and communities of the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, and the global Caribbean diaspora.
Also writes for GTA Weekly and GTA Today.
