During this week, soldiers of the Humanitarian Demining Engineer Battalion No. 4 found and destroyed five explosive devices in the municipalities of Vista Hermosa and Mesetas, in the department of Meta, as part of the manual demining operations carried out by the Colombian National Army to protect communities and prevent accidents with anti-personnel mines and unexploded ordnance.
One of the finds corresponded to a 60 mm mortar shell found in the village of La Palestina in the municipality of Vista Hermosa. The device was reported by an inhabitant of the sector during a door-to-door visit carried out by the mine clearance specialists and subsequently destroyed in a controlled conditions 400 meters away from the school of the village, thus preventing a risk for the inhabitants, especially for children, adolescents and young people.
Meanwhile, in the village of Guapaya Medio, during the non-technical study work, a peasant said he had observed some explosive devices on the La Ceiba farm. In response to this information, the mine clearance specialists carried out the field review and established that they were two unexploded ordnance, corresponding to 120 mm mortar rounds.
On the other hand, in the village of El Gobernador, municipality of Mesetas, an inhabitant who was carrying out cleaning work on his land found an explosive device. Thanks to the timely warning of the community, the humanitarian demining team intervened immediately and neutralized the danger, approximately one kilometer away from the rural school of the sector.
In the same municipality, specifically in the village of El Piñal, non-technical study teams found and destroyed an anti-personnel mine, reaffirming the institutional commitment to the safety and tranquility of the communities of the department of Meta.
The commander of the Humanitarian Demining Engineer Battalion No. 4, Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Franco Ocampo, reported that "during this week, 656 square meters were cleared, distributed in 259 m2 by manual demining technique and 397 m2 by trained dog demining. Through these results, the military operation reports for 2026 amounts of 29,440 square meters cleared, reaching an overall progress of 33.1% in the department of the Meta."
He in the same way highlighted that in the last five months, 25 explosive devices have been destroyed and that currently there are eight active operations in the municipalities of Mesetas, Vista Hermosa and Mapiripán, to decontaminate those territories.
Source: National Army - Fourth Division
