Latest news with #ColombianArmy
Times
05-07-2025
- Times
On the front line of Colombia's cocaine war
In northern Colombia, two guerrilla groups are at war. They're fighting for control of one of the world's top coca-producing regions — and the billion-dollar cocaine industry that comes with it. Across the world, people are taking more cocaine than ever. Users from the UK to Europe and the US are estimated to consume up to six tonnes of the drug every day. Since January, more than 65,000 people in Colombia have been forced to flee their homes in the worst violence in the country for a decade. The Colombian army is trying to push the guerilla groups back. But they're stretched incredibly thin. We spent weeks travelling through the mountainous region in the country's north talking to coca farmers, displaced civilians, the army and the guerrilla groups themselves to try to understand how the cocaine industry works — and why it's brought Colombia back to war.
BBC News
24-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Colombian army frees 57 soldiers detained by locals
Fifty-seven soldiers who had been held captive by locals in the mountains of Colombia since the weekend have been freed in a military operation, the Colombian defence minister has minister, Pedro Sánchez, said that not a single shot had been fired in what he dubbed "Operation Justice".The soldiers were seized in the Cauca region, a stronghold of the EMC rebel group, which engages in cocaine production and Sánchez blamed the EMC for what he described as the soldiers' "kidnapping", saying that the locals who had seized them had been ordered to do so by the rebels. The Colombian military said the incident had been triggered by the arrest of a suspected EMC rebel on the soldiers prepared to airlift the suspect out of the mountainous area, they were surrounded by more than 100 people.A second military unit was then seized the following day by an even larger group of locals, General Erick Rodríguez of the Colombian army was not the first time that members of the security forces were detained by locals, but the size of the group of soldiers was unusually past similar instances, locals negotiated with humanitarian groups and the captured soldiers were released relatively this time, those holding the 57 refused to talk to any go-betweens, triggering the deployment of extra troops to the area to free the captive armed reinforcements were deployed to the area and arrested 20 people, the defence minister to estimates by the military, more than 90% of the inhabitants of the area depend on the cultivation of coca bushes - the plant used to make cocaine - for a presence of soldiers in the area is therefore often seen as a direct threat. The region has also been blighted by the presence of several armed groups which extort farmers and landowners, and engage in illegal mining and cocaine trafficking.
Al Jazeera
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Colombia's army says 57 soldiers kidnapped in restive southwest
The Colombian army says more than 50 soldiers have been seized by civilians in a southwest mountainous area. A platoon of soldiers was the first to be seized on Saturday during an operation in El Tambo, a municipality that is part of an area known as the Micay Canyon, a key zone for cocaine production and one of the most tense in the country's ongoing security crisis. On Sunday, another group of soldiers was surrounded by at least 200 residents as they headed towards the town of El Plateado, in the same region. 'As a result of both events [both kidnappings], a total of four noncommissioned officers and 53 professional soldiers remain deprived of their liberty,' the army said on Sunday. General Federico Alberto Mejia, who leads military operations in the southwest, added in a video that it was a 'kidnapping' by rebels who had 'infiltrated' the community. The Colombian army has maintained that the civilians in the region receive orders from the Central General Staff (EMC), the main dissident group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that refused to be part of a peace deal with the government in 2016. President Gustavo Petro, who has pledged to bring peace to the country, said on social media that freeing the soldiers 'is imperative'. The left-wing leader has been trying for months to ensure that the country's armed forces gain access to Micay Canyon. But his government has struggled to contain violence in urban and rural areas as several rebel groups try to take over territory abandoned by the FARC after the peace deal. This has made many Colombians fearful of a return to the bloody violence of the 1980s and 90s, when cartel attacks and political assassinations were frequent. Peace talks between the FARC-EMC faction and the government broke down last year after a series of attacks on Indigenous communities.
DW
10-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
Colombia: Multiple dead after string explosions in Cali – DW – 06/10/2025
A wave of explosions has rocked southern Colombia, killing one and injuring nine in the city of Cali. Authorities say there were also attacks on police posts in nearby towns. At least two people were killed on Tuesday after a string of bomb explosions targeted police posts in the southwestern Colombian city of Cali, officials said. Spanish news agency reported that at least 36 people were injured in the explosions. While it remains unclear who carried out the apparently coordinated attacks, guerrilla groups that split from the once-powerful FARC militia are known to be active in the area. What do we know about the attacks in Cali? The blasts occurred in the neighborhoods of Meléndez, Manuela Beltran, and Los Mangos. One of the bombs is believed to have been planted on a motorcycle, according to officials. Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder stated on social media platform X that emergency services were responding. "Our security forces are on the scene and health teams are on alert in case of further incidents," he said. Footage from the attacks showed several people lying injured in the streets while bystanders and police attempted to assist them. Colombian presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay shot To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The bombings came just days after the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate in Bogota, a brazen attack that has put the country on edge. Conservative senator Miguel, 39, was shot twice in the head at close range by a 15-year-old alleged hitman while campaigning Saturday in Bogota. How far have the attacks spread? Another explosion was also reported in Jamundi, a municipality near Cali. Additional attacks took place in the neighboring department of Cauca, where two car bombs exploded in the towns of El Bordo and Corinto, causing material damage but no casualties. In the town of Caloto, a police officer was killed by a sniper, and another explosion struck the toll booth in Villa Rica, also in Cauca, about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from Cali. The Colombian Army's Third Division, which operates in the region, blamed the attacks on dissident FARC faction led by Nestor Gregorio Vera, alias Ivan Mordisco. "We express our full support for the police, who were the direct target of these cowardly attacks, and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the defense and security of our citizens," the military said in a statement. The attacks came just one day before President Gustavo Petro was scheduled to visit Cali to participate in a public demonstration organized by labor unions in support of his proposed labor reform. The reform faces legislative setbacks and may be pushed through via a national referendum. Edited by: Zac Crellin
