Thirty-four soldiers were held hostage for two days in rural El Retorno, in the Amazonian department of Guaviare. People in civilian clothes claimed to be holding the group, but authorities described the situation as a kidnapping because the soldiers were held against their will. Military leaders said the incident followed clashes with a FARC dissident structure led by Ivan Mordisco that left ten suspected dissidents dead. Ten members of the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), including a minor, were captured and an ally of Mordisco was killed. Community members surrounded and blocked the soldiers, calling it a humanitarian corridor. Officials requested help from the Ombudsman's Office and the OAS Mission and warned that using civilians as human shields violates international humanitarian law.
People dressed in civilian clothes claim to be holding a group of soldiers. But this is not a detention, it is a kidnapping, because they are being held against their will, he told reporters. Admiral Francisco Cubides, commander of the Armed Forces, said the kidnapping took place on Monday after clashes with one of the FARC dissident structures led by Ivan Mordisco.
When the troops attempted to leave the area, they were blocked by members of the community. The fighting also led to the capture of 10 members of the armed group, known as the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), including a minor, as well as the death of Willington Dumar Vanegas Leyva, a close ally of Mordisco in the region. It was then that members of the community surrounded the soldiers and prevented them from leaving.
The people say it is a humanitarian corridor. What they are really doing is blocking the protection of other Colombians, said Cubides. He called on the Ombudsman's Office and the Organization of American States Mission to Support the Peace Process to help secure the soldiers' release. It is not the first time the military has accused civilians of detaining soldiers under pressure from dissidents.
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