A 19-year-old has died from machete injuries in north-central Colombia, after trying to stop a drunken man who appeared set to decapitate a dog with the same machete. The alleged killer has been arrested.
The attack occurred Saturday night when Miguel Ángel Palacio Montoya and his brother approached a man taunting a dog with his machete on a street in Envigado, south of Medellín, and told him to stop. The dispute provoked a brawl in which the boys threw stones at the man, who later returned to wound them both with his machete, El Espectador reported on May 5.
Montoya died Sunday from his injuries, while his brother remains in stable condition. Police said the dog had “minor injuries.”
The incident reportedly prompted a protest in Medellín that same day, against cruelty to animals. Dogs are a highly sensitive issue in Colombian cities, where many residents keep them as guards to protect their homes from crime. This often leads to a certain amount of fear on the streets, as incidents of dogs killing children or passers-by occur sporadically. Nevertheless, owners tend to resist vehemently any move to restrict dog circulation.
Photo, dogs in Bogota (Matt Lemmon)
