Army troops occupied a workshop that manufactured explosive devices in Meta

According to a report by Land Operations Battalion No. 6, Army soldiers found a workshop in Caño Cabra Township, Vista Hermosa Municipality, Meta Department, which is believed to manufacture anti-personnel mines. that apparently they were going to be used to prevent the eradication of illicit crops south of Meta, Guaviare and Caquetá.

According to official information, this military operation was carried out as part of joint and inter-agency tasks with troops from Joint Task Force Omega, who managed to obtain information provided by the Civic Participation Network.

On the other hand, General Raúl Flórez, commander of Joint Task Force Omega, assured Caracol Radio that this infrastructure would belong to armed dissidents of the extinct FARC, whose main leader is alias “ Gentil Duarte ”..

During the search in the military zone, 254 improvised explosive devices were found in PVC containers weighing one kilogram each and with an electrical activation system, 13 directional improvised explosive devices in metal containers, reinforced with nails of three inches and an electrical activation system.

Likewise, 30 metal containers for improvised explosive devices, 12 plastic 55 gallon containers, two improvised explosive devices in one 40 pound cylindrical metal container, two 55 gallon containers with ties, five plastic containers of a capacity of five gallons, two metal containers and approximately 80 gallons of CMPA.

The other equipment located in the workshop is: 300 meters of duplex cable, 100 meters of copper cable, 40 professional camera flashes, 40 rods, 13 vehicle alarms, 12 galvanized pipes, 10 PVC pipes, 10 iron sheets, four grenade rockets, three batteries and a power station.

In view of the discovery of this factory and the warrior steward, the statement of the Omega Joint Task Force stated that, “The use of this type of weapon constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law and is classified as a crime in the Colombian Penal Code. Likewise, it violates the third article common to the four Geneva Conventions and violates the human rights of all Colombians.

One soldier killed and two injured by the explosion of an antipersonnel mine in Tierralta, Córdoba

On February 15, three soldiers, who were in the village of Saiza, municipality of Tierralta, department of Cordoba, were victims of the activation of an antipersonnel mine, where died José Manuel Lopera Borja, 25, in uniform . While the other two soldiers were injured. and transferred to a health center.

By a declaration, the army attributed the implantation of this device by the Gulf Clan, because in the place where the respective territorial control operations were carried out by the corps of the battalion of the engineers n ° 17 General Bejarano Muñoz, there is a strong insurrection of this armed group.

The victims of antipersonnel mines in Colombia continue to increase: 2020 closed with 165 and there are already 5 so far in 2021.

The scourge of anti-personnel mines is a humanitarian problem which, according to information from Decontamina Colombia, of the High Commission for Peace (OACP), has left 9,653 injured in the country, or 80.5% of the victims, and 2,322 deaths, 19.5% of citizens who have suffered accidents with these devices. These clues indicate that one in five victims dies.

According to the national government, in 2020, 25 new municipalities suspected of anti-personnel mines (MAP) and unexploded ordnance (Muse) were released, in 13 departments of the national territory.

With this announcement, made on December 9 by President Iván Duque, the 432 municipalities across the country free of suspected mines since the start of humanitarian demining operations across the country, and 154 over the past two years.

Despite this, the Colombian Landmine Campaign announced that, up to January 15, there had been 5 victims of anti-personnel mines, 4 of whom were minors. The initiative indicates that the events occurred in the department of Nariño (municipalities of Policarpa and Tumaco) and in Arauca (municipality of Saravena), where unfortunately two of the miners died.

“These situations are unacceptable. The installation of these devices harms the civilian population; boys, girls, grandparents, grandmothers, mothers, fathers … entire communities who lose the possibility of passage, their cultural developments , the productive use of their territories and unfortunately sometimes someone ends his life or is mutilated in one of these terrible explosions “, relates the Colombian campaign against landmines.

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