Soldiers of the Humanitarian Demining Engineers Battalion No.1, after conducting non-technical studies and manual demining on a farm in the village of La Paujilera, in the municipality of La Montañita, in the department of Caquetá, ruled out the existence of antipersonnel mines in 1,962 square meters.
The mission in that area of the department, was carried out thanks to information provided by the owner of the farm, which said that the last month of February while doing field work in one of their paddocks, he heard a heavy explosion far in his property, and when he approached the place he found that one of his cattle had activated an antipersonnel mine.
That is why, when the mine clearance specialists arrived at his land, he voluntarily took them to the place, telling them what had happened and saying that since that day he had not returned to that area.
With this operation 12 people are favored directly, however, it is estimated that indirectly 40 inhabitants of the village are in the same way benefited, because they can continue with agriculture and livestock growing.
On the other hand, Roncesvalles, in the department of Tolima, is another areas free of suspicion of antipersonnel mines thanks to the National Army. Thirty-two mine clearance specialists were in charge of clearing the silent enemy that was buried for years in rural area of that municipality in the department of Tolima.
During two months of work in the villages of Orisol and Las Perlas, soldiers of the Humanitarian Demining Engineers Battalion No.2, verified two areas that had contamination of explosive devices.
More than 7,000 square meters were verified with the manual clearance technique, where only one explosive device was found.
In this way, the military contributed to the recovery of the lands, restoring fundamental rights to 11 families that inhabit the sector, who will be able to strengthen their economy using their properties.
In the two demining operations carried out in these departments, close to 10 thousand square meters were declared free of contamination.
Source: Humanitarian Demining Brigade
