In compliance with the presidential and ministerial order to strengthen the number of units in the department of Arauca, the Eighth Division of the National Army carried out the movement of two battalions in the populated centers of Puerto Nariño, La Esmeralda, Aguachica, La Paz and El Botalón in the municipalities of Saravena, Arauquita and Tame in the Araucan lands.
The two battalions arrived in less than 72 hours, according to follow the order that was generated after the Security Council held on Monday, January 3, 2022 in the municipality of Arauca, where the Army made the pertinent movements to the areas with law and order disturbances.
At the moment, more than 600 equipped soldiers arrived by air and by land with armored vehicles, to do work in the populated centers already mentioned. The members of the Military Forces sent to area have differential training in rural and urban combat, anti-kidnapping and anti-extortion operations, as well as in first aid, Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, conflict resolution, among others; in the same way there are explosives experts, technicians, anti-explosive trained dogs and experts in night assault operations.
It should be noted that the military and the Police maintain the military and security operations in the department of Arauca, for this it has more than 6800 National Army soldiers in the area, covering about 450 kilometers of border, working for the security in this area of the country.
The National Army will continue to conduct military operations decisively, as it was done in 2021, with the arrest 267 criminals along with surrender to justice of 11 members of organized armed groups, as well as the recovery of 14 minors recruited by force by this illegal groups, which were being exploited to attack the civilians and the Military Forces.
