The soldiers of the Humanitarian Demining Engineers Brigade n. 1 of the National Army, this year will conduct 108 clearing operations in 11 departments and 32 municipalities of Colombia.
The challenge that was assumed by more than five thousand men and women of that military unit, will be met through non-technical studies, manual, mechanical and canine demining.
So, by 2019, in the municipalities of Baraya (Huila) and Valle del Guamuez (Putumayo) trained dogs support the operation of the men in charge of decontaminating those departments. Meanwhile, the mechanical technique continues in the municipality of Florencia, in the department of Caquetá.
Specifically 87 areas have been chosen, the military will initially clear 70, in the departments of Santander, Antioquia, Caldas, Meta, Cauca Valle, Cauca, Nariño, Huila, Putumayo, Cordoba, Caquetá, Tolima, Cundinamarca, Chocó, Boyacá, and Casanare, which are suspected of being contaminated by antipersonnel mines.
Since 2009, the National Army has freed 92 municipalities of the suspicion of anti-personnel mines, destroying 1,008 explosive devices, with which more people were prevented from becoming new victims. Colombia to date reports 11,687 victims of antipersonnel mines, 4,574 are civilians and 7,113 are members of the Security forces.
By decontaminating properties that were hit by the presence of explosive devices, the mine clearance specialists have contributed to the use of the land and the restitution of rights of the communities. Thus, to date, about 13,000 requests for land restitution have been established.
Humanitarian demining in Colombia takes place thanks to the commitment of the demining soldiers and the support of the communities by providing information on areas with possible presence of anti-personnel mines.
Source: National Army
