BOGOTÁ, Colombia (BN24) — The Colombian army said Sunday that hundreds of people abducted 45 soldiers in the country’s southwest, in a rural zone heavily influenced by a dissident rebel faction tied to the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
According to a military statement, the incident occurred in the Micay Canyon in Cauca department, a region long known for coca leaf cultivation and now considered a stronghold of FARC dissidents who have stepped up attacks on government forces.
The army said roughly 600 people surrounded and blocked the soldiers, who had been deployed to oversee crop substitution programs designed to replace coca cultivation. Once surrounded, the troops were prevented from carrying out their mission and declared “kidnapped” by the military.
It is the second abduction of Colombian soldiers in less than a month. In August, 33 soldiers were captured under similar circumstances in Guaviare department. Local villagers, allegedly acting under rebel orders, detained the troops after a gun battle that left 10 dissidents dead. They demanded the return of one rebel’s body before eventually releasing the soldiers four days later.
The abduction in Cauca highlights the ongoing security challenges Colombia faces in rural areas nearly a decade after the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC. Despite the accord, dissident groups and drug trafficking organizations continue to control swaths of countryside where state presence is limited.
The government has sought to expand substitution programs to curb coca production, but efforts have met fierce resistance in rebel-dominated regions. The latest incident underscores the volatile relationship between armed groups, local communities, and government forces, as Colombia struggles to maintain order in contested areas.
