The release of the young merchant Edward Mauricio Muñoz in the municipality of Acevedo in a joint operation between the Police Gaula, the Aerospace Force with the support of the Army and the authorities in the department was a cause for joy from the early hours of yesterday, Thursday. The rescue took place in the rural area of Timaná where he remained in a bunk and chained.
Hernan Galindo
The young Edward Mauricio Muñoz was rescued in the early hours of yesterday Thursday in a rural area of the municipality of Timaná, 15 days after his kidnapping that occurred on the night of February 15 when he was leaving one of the supermarkets owned by his family. Several armed individuals approached him and took him away, as he was recorded on a security camera.
Immediately, the authorities, while condemning the criminal action, began an operation to find the whereabouts of the kidnapped young man. The first clues were a Mazda CX 5 truck in which they took him along the road that connects with the municipality of Suaza.
The young man was rescued in a wooded area in a rural area of the municipality of Timaná where he remained chained and was apparently guarded by one of the alleged kidnappers who was captured at the time of his release.
The operation to free Edward Mauricio Muñoz
The operation began in the hours of Wednesday night after planning it based on intelligence work that had the technical support of elements of the latest technology in which Gaula commandos intervened, who walked throughout the night and early Thursday morning through a forested area through trails that allowed them to reach the place where the young Muñoz Plazas remained kidnapped.
The instruction was clear from the head of the command that carried out the successful rescue and was above all to preserve the life of the kidnapped person. This was heard in a video recorded by the agents who were part of the plan to return Edward Muñoz’s freedom.
Later, with the light of the new day, they arrive at the previously identified site and let young Muñoz, who is free, know: “We are the National Police. Welcome to freedom,” the commander of the operation said to the astonished young man who, with a shocked face, thanked them.
On the land where the kidnapped man was held captive, all that can be seen is thick vegetation and a kind of hut where he was kept.
Details of the operation were provided by the commander of the Huila Police, Colonel William Javier Lara, who expressed the pride that achieving this release means for the institution.
“We are very happy to return to his home the young Edward Mauricio Muñoz Plazas who had been kidnapped on February 15 in the municipality of Acevedo. There were 15 days in which our men from the Gaula of the Huila Police worked hard to achieve this result, which results in the trust of citizens in their National Police,” said Colonel Lara.
At the scene, an alleged kidnapper was captured from whom a revolver, 4 communications radios, war ammunition, binoculars, three cell phones, chains to tie the kidnapped person and administration material were seized.
Once the rescue took place, the members of the Gaula Group took him to the Police command in Acevedo in the middle of an improvised caravan of citizens who approached and welcomed Freedom amidst applause and “cheers.” ” to the authorities who managed to return the citizen to his home.
As time went by, more citizens arrived to demonstrate with gestures of joy and affection their solidarity with the Muñoz family, who lived 15 days of anxiety and waiting.
Edward Mauricio, still wearing a Gaula vest, went to the entrance door of the Police station and with tears in his eyes, he thanked the voices of solidarity. “Thank you to everyone who has been in prayer and that it is possible,” he said.
And the young man’s family received all kinds of solidarity from the moment of the kidnapping and both the Mayor and the Governor each offered a reward of 20 million pesos for information that would allow the release of the young man, son of Andrés Muñoz, owner of a supermarket chain in the town.
Precisely, Andrés Muñoz, upon leaving the Police station, thanked the prayers and solidarity of the Acevedunos and all of Huila.
“First, thank God for the opportunity he gives us, thanks to the authorities, the people, the churches and each of those who have been attentive and know that we are more good people who want peace in Colombia; God bless you and all that remains is to move forward,” said the excited father.
The solidarity of a people
The culminating part of the successful rescue of the young merchant Edwin Muñoz Plazas, was the total show of solidarity of the Aceveduns, during the days of captivity, with marches, with banners demanding and asking for his release and then in his safe return, it was a welcome march, which they called “the liberation march”, in which voices were heard again in favor of freedom and peace. “Here is a grateful family, here is a people grateful to God,” said the organizer through amplified sound.
There, the commander of the Police in Huila, Colonel William Javier Lara, intervened again, who on this occasion thanked the solidarity of the community that trusted the National Police.
Reactions
The reactions once news of Edward’s release emerged from all corners and sectors of the department.
Governor Rodrigo Villalba, in a message sent through social networks, expressed his satisfaction with the rescue of the young man from Aceved. “As governor of Huila, I express my deep satisfaction for the release of the young Edward Mauricio Muñoz, in Acevedo on behalf of the public force in development of a strategy that we established in a security council when these unfortunate events occurred,” he said.
And he celebrated the articulated action of the Gaula of the Huila Police with the Aerospace Force and the public force, but he also highlighted the participation of the community and stated that rewards were established that became effective due to community collaboration.
The governor hugged the Muñoz family from a distance and recalled that in other operations this week, Alias ’Alirio’, former commander of FARC structures, for whom a reward was offered, was captured.
Finally, when referring to the capture of the perpetrators of an illegal checkpoint on the road that leads from La Plata to the department of Cauca, it was demonstrated, as he said, that there is forceful action on the part of the authority and the public force to guarantee the safety and tranquility of all Huilenses.
Mayor Edgar Prada
Acevedo’s president, from the mayors’ summit in Cartagena, told LA NACIÓN: “Today we feel very grateful first to God and then to our Police, to Colonel Lara and to Governor Villalba Mosquera, because they have always been our support, “They were always there permanently and supported us in the actions that allowed us to recover and deliver Edward Andrés Muñoz free and healthy.”
He was excited and stated that from Acevedo, “we can tell Colombia that here we are working for peace and to these characters who make these mistakes that freedom is the main thing and that they think that we all have families, children, parents, brothers. “Today is a new dawn of total happiness for us in Acevedo because crime has been defeated,” he concluded.
Mayor Prada recognized that there are groups outside the law that are threatening and extorting the population, which is why he called on the National Government to maintain control with the public force and act forcefully against crime.
