A group of 45 Colombian soldiers have been retrieved from a village controlled by rebel fighters in the country’s rural southwest, where authorities say they were blocked from leaving by a group of about 600 civilians.
The Colombian military said on Monday that the last remaining soldiers had been retrieved “without incident” and returned “safe and sound” from El Tambo, located in a region known for coca production and other illicit activity.
“All military personnel in the hands of civilians have been released,” President Gustavo Petro said in a social media post. “The population in regions of coca leaf and illicit gold [mining] must stop obeying orders from the mafias.”
The government has blamed such incidents, five of which have occurred this year, on splinter groups that spurned a 2016 peace deal between the government and the FARC, a left-wing rebel group.
Colombian authorities allege that such armed groups pressure civilian populations in coca-producing regions into blocking patrols of soldiers in place. Such incidents are not uncommon and mostly result in soldiers being released unharmed, sometimes following mediation by human rights groups.
After the 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), various splinter groups, drug trafficking, and criminal organisations rushed in to take control of areas previously controlled by the left-wing group.
A six-decade civil conflict that resulted in the death of 450,000 people may also contribute to hostility towards the army in some parts of the country. A 2022 truth commission report stated that the government, along with right-wing paramilitaries, were responsible for the majority of civilians killed in the conflict, although all forces involved participated in abuses such as kidnapping and disappearances.
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