Coca growers release 180 Colombian soldiers who had been detained on the border with Venezuela

Coca growers released this Thursday 180 Colombian Army soldiers who had been detained on Tuesday when they carried out anti-narcotics operations in a town on the border with Venezuela, reported the Ombudsman’s Office.

In the afternoon there was “a unilateral demonstration by the communities to withdraw from the place and not to impede the work of the public force,” the Ombudsman, which ensures human rights, said in a statement.

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According to the army, peasants armed with sticks and machetes surrounded the troops that were destroying coca crops in Tibú, a municipality in the department of Norte de Santander that concentrates the world’s largest crops of this plant used to extract cocaine.

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Earlier, President Iván Duque accused the coca growers of “kidnapping” and warned them that the authorities would act in the area if the “rapid release” of the uniformed men did not take place.

An AFP team saw when the peasants withdrew from the school where the uniformed men were being held. “The army was not the victim of any type of violence, kidnapping,” says a statement released by the coca growers.

The troops were taken on Tuesday while destroying plantations of the cocaine-producing plant near the border with Venezuela. (Photo: Schneyder MENDOZA / AFP) (SCHNEYDER MENDOZA /)

“The humanitarian siege was carried out in order to avoid possible human rights violations (…) due to the antecedents that occurred in 2020 in eradication work in the municipalities of Cúcuta and Sardinata,” where two peasants died, adds the text .

The coca growers often have clashes with the military who uproot the plantations.

#ExclusivoW | These are the 180 soldiers kidnapped in the Chiquinquirá village of the municipality of Tibú, Norte de Santander → https://t.co/SxegKU5XtR pic.twitter.com/Zd7xS2XIsy

— Alertas W (@AlertasW) October 28, 2021

Tibú, in the department of North 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.

Rebels from the ELN guerrillas and dissidents from the former FARC guerrillas who 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.

Colombian President Iván Duque had urged coca growers to release 180 soldiers they had taken hostage during a counternarcotics operation, warning of the consequences if they do not do so. (Photo: SCHNEYDER MENDOZA / AFP). (SCHNEYDER MENDOZA /)

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.

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