A 27-year-old woman jumped off La Vida bridge located in the Ibagué Cajamarca variant

A regrettable event occurred yesterday, Wednesday, April 20, where a 27-year-old woman who has been identified as Marcela Calderón, jumped into the void from a bridge located in the Ibagué Cajamarca variant, said jump ended her life.

The suicide that occurred on the metal bridge of La Vida, happened amid clamors and pleas for the 27-year-old woman not to jump. Relief agencies as well as control and security agencies came to persuade the young woman, but their efforts were in vain.

Jorge Cárdenas, a witness to the regrettable event, told RCN Radio: “I told him that I, too, in my adolescence, tried to do the same, but I reconsidered. I approached her and told her not to (...) people started talking to her, but she was so determined that she said not to come close, and from one moment to the next she decided to jump in.”

Marcela Calderón, who according to authorities was from the municipality of Guamo in Tolima, would be the mother of a 10-year-old boy, according to the witnesses' accounts. “He told me that his name was Marcela, that he came from Guamo and that he has a ten-year-old son. He said he had problems, but I asked him to help him and he said no, he didn't mean more. She talked to the police, with the firefighters, but it happened,” said Jorge Cárdenas.

Marcela's suicide occurred where a 28-year-old woman jumped last year along with her son in arms. The incident occurred due to alleged economic difficulties that would have led the mother and her son to jump into the abyss of the bridge La Variante, paradoxically named the bridge of 'La vida'.

One of the facts to highlight in these regrettable stories is that they have not been the only ones to eclipse their lives in this structure, even one of Alejandra Suárez's relatives pointed out the need to prevent such acts on the bridge of 'La vida'.

“How many more people will have to die for the Government to address the problems presented by this bridge and take action. There is a very big history of these cases, how is it possible that they have not yet made it a safe infrastructure and that bridge has only five railings that hit people's chests, there is only one sign that says “God loves you”, that sign that will prevent and prevent a person from jumping from there”.

According to the National Mental Health Survey, attempted suicide and suicide in minors are the most serious consequence of depression. Other triggers can be quarrels with parents, suicide of third parties, discrimination based on gender identity, among others. As for adults, among the most common factors are: being older than 45, impulsivity, widowhood, living alone, being unemployed, retired, family history of suicide and having firearms at home.

Despite the fact that suicide rates were reduced in the country in 2020 (2,142 between January and November), the National Institute of Health hypotheses suggest that this was achieved due to less access to lethal means, more social control, greater access to other “mechanisms of emotional regulation” such as psychoactive substances or because emergency services have reported less frequently.

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