RCN News
August 10, 2024
07:30 p. m.
In the afternoon of this Saturday, August 10, the National Army announced that 40 of the 100 soldiers of the Joint Task Force Omega kidnapped in San José del Guaviare They managed to escape after being detained last Friday, August 9.
The command of the 22nd Brigade assured that the Army will continue its patrol duties over the general rural area of San José del Guaviare.
It was also learned that A humanitarian commission is in the area talking with the communities to achieve the delivery of the remaining uniformed personnel. belonging to the 22nd Jungle Brigade, attached to the Omega Joint Task Force.
The soldiers had been kidnapped in a rural area of San José del Guaviare
In the morning hours of this Saturday, August 10, General Luis Emilio Cardozo Santamaría, commander of the National Army, spoke out through his social networks to reject the illegal detention of uniformed officers.
“I reject the kidnapping of our soldiers from the
Joint Task Force Omega in San José del Guaviare, who They were fulfilling their constitutional mission of protecting the civilian population from extortion carried out by the residual organized armed group (GAO-r)“, the uniformed man said.
The situation arose when troops from the Eastern Specific Command were carrying out control tasks and They were intercepted by a group of people in the villages of Chuapal and Bocas de Caño Cafra.
The individuals identified themselves as the peasant guard from the sector and requested the presence of the mayor, delegates from the MAPP OAS, the UN, the Ombudsman’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office to release the soldiers.
The kidnapped troops were carrying out anti-extortion work
The kidnapping of the officers occurs in the midst of a complicated context in Guaviare due to extortion by Alexis Guerra, alias Cancharino, a member of the Jorge Suárez Briceño criminal structure.
It’s criminal had issued pamphlets forcing merchants in southern Meta and San José del Guaviare to close their businesses during the period from July 22 to 26 of this year.
The troops of the Eastern Specific Command had been deployed precisely in response to the aforementioned extortion threats that were affecting the local economy.
