What Happened
During the four days of carnival in Colón province, the Regional Prosecutor’s Office for Colón and Guna Yala reported that it processed 30 complaints related to robbery, theft, domestic violence and personal injury. The Public Ministry said the Sección de Atención Primaria worked around the clock during the festivities and presented those cases to the courts.
Notable Cases
On the afternoon of 12 February 2024, three people were involved in an attempted robbery at a commercial establishment in Cuatro Altos, in the Cristóbal corregimiento. Police apprehended the suspects as they fled the scene. Prosecutor Tatiana Aguilar García presented the three detainees to the Juzgado de Garantías, where they were charged with attempted robbery and ordered held in provisional detention.
Also on 12 February, in the Margarita sector of Cristóbal, four people stole steel sheets used on oil storage tanks. They were arrested in flagrancia by the National Police and brought by the Sección Primera de Delitos contra el Patrimonio Económico de Colón before the Tribunal de Garantías on 14 February 2024. Two of those defendants accepted pleas of 48 months in prison, while the other two accepted pleas of 63 months, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Response and Operations
The Sección de Atención Primaria operated 24 hours across all four carnival days. In total, the office reported the arrest of eight people during the period; seven of those were taken before the Tribunal de Garantías for alleged crimes described as altering public peace. The prosecutor’s office also noted that, overall, three people received provisional detention orders and four citizens entered into plea agreements.
What This Means
The regional prosecutor’s summary underscores the Public Ministry’s active role in responding to incidents during large public celebrations. The cases span common criminal complaints reported during mass events—property crimes and interpersonal violence—and show prosecutions moving quickly from apprehension to formal presentation before courts during the carnival period.