Guerrilla faction holds 60 Colombian soldiers hostage in Rural area
Date
8/13/2024 6:03:28 AM
(MENAFN) In rural Colombia, approximately 60 soldiers have been held hostage since the weekend, allegedly under the direction of a guerrilla faction, according to officials. The soldiers were captured on Saturday, with about 40 others having managed to escape, as reported by an army source. The group of 60 is being detained by around 650 local residents in the rural area of south Colombia, near San Jose del Guaviare, as mentioned by mayor Willy Rodriguez to Caracol Radio. These townspeople are believed to be influenced by dissidents from the FARC guerrilla movement.
Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez has attributed the hostage situation to the Jorge Suarez Briceno rebel group, which he labeled as a "kidnapping." This group is currently engaged in peace negotiations with the Colombian government and had previously agreed to a bilateral ceasefire in October of the previous year. Velasquez has expressed concerns that this recent hostage-taking incident jeopardizes the truce.
Despite the 2016 peace agreement that led to the disarmament of the FARC, violence has persisted among security forces, leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, and drug cartels. Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, has been actively working to end the prolonged internal conflict by engaging in negotiations with various armed groups since he took office in August 2022.
The ongoing conflict has had a severe impact, displacing, murdering, kidnapping, or leaving missing an estimated 9.5 million people.
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