66 kidnapped soldiers released in southeastern Colombia

The 66 soldiers who were “kidnapped” for three days by peasants in southeastern Colombia were released on Monday (08/12/2024), the Colombian government reported.

“The 66 uniformed officers who were held hostage for more than 72 hours in the rural area of ​​San José del Guaviare by communities instrumentalized by the Jorge Suárez Briceño bloc,” a group of dissidents from the FARC guerrilla group, were released, the Colombian Ministry of Defense confirmed on Monday on its account on the social network X.

“At this time of the afternoon, and after more than 72 hours of being held hostage, the 66 uniformed personnel belonging to the Joint Task Force Omega began to leave the area where they were being held,” the military institution indicated in another brief statement.

The Army added that “troops will continue to be deployed in the area, working for the security and well-being of the population and combating all forms of criminality.”

The release comes shortly after the commander of Joint Command No. 3, General Raúl Vargas, made a call to the communities: “They must understand that organized armed groups are organizations outside the law that will not respect their rights. Removing public forces from the territories means leaving them at the mercy of criminals who can kill them at any time with impunity.”

A delegation from the UN, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Ombudsman’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office and the Guaviare government mediated with the community for the release of the soldiers.

According to information from the Omega Joint Task Force Command, the soldiers were intercepted on Friday in a rural area of ​​San José del Guaviare, the departmental capital, by alleged “members of the peasant guards of the Chuapal and Bocas de Caño Cafra villages, in the municipality of San José del Guaviare.”

Initially, a group of 100 soldiers was detained, although some of them were later released.

The troops were there to combat the presence of a FARC dissident group led by alias ‘Cancharino’, who, through pamphlets, summoned merchants in the department of Meta and San José del Guaviare, “forcing them to close their businesses between July 22 and 26 of this year.”