By The Diary
13 Aug 2024, 02:15 AM EDT
The Colombian government has announced the release of 66 soldiers who had been deprived of their freedom for three days by “peasant guards” in Guaviare. The men of the Omega Joint Task Force kidnapped them from last Friday until Monday, when they were released.
The soldiers were carrying out missions to protect the civilian population in the Department of Guaviare.
“We reject these acts”
“After being kidnapped for more than 72 hours, the 66 uniformed personnel belonging to the Omega Joint Task Force are beginning to leave the area where they were being held,” one of the soldiers said on social media.
“We reject these acts that prevent us from fulfilling our duties and we reiterate that our troops will continue to be deployed to carry out the tasks that have been assigned to them against all criminal factors,” they added.
The soldiers’ release came shortly after the commander of Joint Command No. 3, General Raúl Vargas, made an appeal 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,” he said.
ATTENTION🚨: The 66 uniformed members of @ftc_omega who were held captive for more than 72 hours in the rural area of San José del Guaviare by communities exploited by the ‘Jorge Suárez Briceño’ bloc have been released.
Troops will continue to be deployed in the area,…
— Mindefensa (@mindefensa) August 12, 2024
A delegation from the UN, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Ombudsman’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office and the Guaviare government negotiated with the community for the release of the soldiers.
Kidnapped in rural area of Guaviare
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, municipality of San José del Guaviare.”
Initially, a group of 100 soldiers were held, although some of them were later released, the DW news agency reported.
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.”
Soldiers will receive support
“We thank the multilateral organizations, the UN delegate, the OAS, the ombudsman, the attorney general, and the civil authorities of the department of Guaviare for all the commitment shown since the first day we entered this undesirable crisis,” they argued.
They also added that the affected men will receive all the institutional support and backing to restore their rights.
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