During the first semester of 2018, 26 voluntary surrenders were reported in the department of Arauca.
Arauca. The military operation of the Quirón Task Force in the department of Arauca, the continuous campaigns through institutional radios stations and the distribution of leaflets, led to the demobilization of 26 people so far in 2018, among them 17 minors of age, who had been illicitly recruited by the ELN and the organized armed group of the First front.
It is worth mentioning that voluntary surrenders have been reported in the rural areas of the municipalities of Arauca, Arauquita, Tame and Fortul. Some of these people have done so with their sentimental partners, citing bad treatment within the criminal organization; they also have surrendered war material.
Among the people who made this important decision there are guerrilla fighters, explosives experts, members of the terrorist support networks, snipers, nurses and even a ringleader, which represents the destabilization of the aforementioned residual groups that increasingly lose their capacity to fight thanks to the pressure of the Military Units that carried out sustained operations in the region.
Meanwhile, after disengaging the ranks of the illegality, the minors, some of them recovered at the time they were committing crimes, were left under the protection of the Colombian Institute of Family Wellbeing ICBF. The illicit recruitment exposes the constant violations of Human Rights of the children and adolescents of the Department who have been and continue to be victims of terrorist groups.
For its part, the Military Institution continues to promote the prevention of illicit recruitment and guarantees for children and invites those who belong to the illegal armed groups that commit crimes in this area of the country to benefit of the demobilization advantages.
Source: Eighteenth Brigade - National Army.
