The coca growers “kidnapped six platoons of the national army” last Tuesday in the municipality of Tibú, the officer told reporters.
The military official reported that the troops were surrounded by peasants with sticks and machetes while fulfilling “tasks of fighting against the entire chain of drug trafficking.”
The soldiers are concentrated in a rural school, he added, the AFP news agency reported.
The spokesman for a peasant association that identified himself as “Junior” told W Radio that the community has “the best disposition for dialogue” to allow the military to leave.
He added that they held the soldiers in protest because, they say, the Government failed to fulfill its commitments in the program to replace coca leaf crops with legal crops.
The Ombudsman’s Office, an entity that watches over human rights, reported on Twitter that it was heading to Tibú to carry out mediation and obtain the release of the soldiers.
Tibú, in the department of Norte Santander, is part of the so-called Catatumbo region, the territory with the most drug crops in the world.
In the area there are some 40,084 hectares planted with coca leaves, according to the latest 2020 UN report.
Guerrilla rebels THE N and dissidents of the ex-guerrilla FARC that did not adhere to the 2016 peace agreement operate in the area, profiting from drug trafficking revenues.
The president, Iván Duque, has redoubled the persecution of this illegal business through the forced eradication of crops, which are carried out manually by soldiers.
The coca growers often have clashes with the military who uproot the plantations.
Despite the persecution, thousands continue to plant coca, especially with the labor of Venezuelan settlers and migrants fleeing the social and economic crisis in their country.
With a record production figure of 1,010 tons in 2020, Colombia remains the world’s largest exporter of cocaine and the United States the main consumer of that drug.
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
