Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have kicked off the second day of their tour of Colombia by visiting a school in Bogota, where they chatted to students about emotional well-being in education amid a ring of steel of security
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have had a ring of steel security thrown around them as they visited a school described as being in a ‘bandit country’ on the second day of their Colombian tour.
The couple visited La Giralda School in Bogota, where they met students to talk about supporting healthy lives, with a huge security presence in tow, including soldiers and armed police. Harry and Meghan’s cavalcade included at least 14 vehicles and the school’s perimeter had soldiers, police and suited private security stationed around it.
A local taxi driver described the school as being in “bandit country” and warned journalists who were in the area covering the visit to “be careful”. During their engagements yesterday, the Sussexes were also followed at all times by extremely visible security.
Harry and Meghan’s security in Colombia includes an officer armed with a Kevlar shield to stop any potential shooter taking aim at the couple. At each event the couple have attended the man – part of the local security detail – has been seen jumping out of a vehicle ahead of the couple holding the folding shield.
During the Duke and Duchess visit to La Giralda school on Friday morning the shield was clearly visible behind Harry as he planted a tree in the grounds and on footage released by the Colombian government.
The shield – known as a ballistic briefcase – is also being used to protect the country’s vice president Francia Marquez, who is hosting the visit and who has been the target of several assassination attempts. Last year her protection team found 7kg of explosive buried in a rural road leading to her home in the south western province of Cauca.
Just two months ago her father and six-year-old nephew escaped unharmed after gunmen shot up a car they were in, leaving in riddled with bullets. Security websites describe the ballistic briefcase as a discreet close protection and a rapid-deployment safety device.
It’s non-threatening appearance and easy carry feature makes it ideal for executives, close protection officers and VIP bodyguards. It can be unfolded rapidly with one hand to provide a sizeable line of defense for ballistic and fragmentation threats.
The ring of steel surrounding the party will raise eyebrows as Colombia has travel advisory warnings from the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office. The school the couple visited on Friday was in the Bogota district of Santa Fe which is seen as a particularly dangerous and violent suburb.
The area is Bogota’s red-light district, a deadly mix of prostitution, drugs and violence and best avoided at night, according to locals. It featured on Apple Tv series No Go Zones – The World’s Toughest Places – and was described as an area of “Colombian gangsters and pimps in charge and all manner of homeless people and addicts find their way to the wasteland of Bogota”.
Inside the school, which is known as one of the top learning instutions in the world, Harry and Meghan were greeted by headmaster Serafin OrdoìnÞez. The Duke and Duchess, along with the country’s Vice President Francis Marquez, took part in a brief tour of the school, which included participating in an art session, visiting a kindergarten class, and also joining in on planting trees on the school’s property. Meghan, who wore a Loro Piana linen blazer and butterfly earrings that once belonged to Princess Diana, helped a five-year-old pupil called Manuela plant a walnut tree.
