Update: On the afternoon of Saturday, March 8, Colombia’s Ministry of Defense announced that the security forces that had been detained in El Plateado, Cauca a day earlier had been released.
Bogotá, Colombia – The detention of 29 police and one army soldier after riots in El Plateado, Cauca, have sparked a fresh crisis in this mountainous area of Colombia where state forces are battling illegal armed groups protecting lucrative coca plantations.
Trouble erupted on Thursday, March 6, after heavily armed anti-riot police supported by soldiers and armored vehicles pushed into a village close to the town, part of an ongoing operation to pacify a region dominated by fighters from the Frente Carlos Patiño, a rebel group composed of dissidents from the now defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
As reported by Latin America Reports this week, the region has long been plagued by low intensity conflict with increasing use of armed drones affecting the civil population.
Read more: Drone attacks increasingly affect civilians in Colombia’s conflict
Now, it seems, the gloves are off with rioters attacking police in the village of La Hacienda, a few kilometers north of El Plateado and burning vehicles with improvised incendiary bombs, according to local media reports.
During the confrontation, in which swarms of young men can be seen surrounding the armored vehicles, at least 30 uniformed state forces were abducted by rioters and 24 hours later were still being detained, though their current location was unclear.
Colombia’s Defense Minister Pedro Sanchéz was quick to condemn the act accusing the FARC dissidents of “attempted homicide and kidnapping.”
On his X account, the minister accused the armed group of instigating rioters to “burn alive our police and military inside vehicles set on fire.”
“The life and safety of the members of the Public Force kidnapped is the direct responsibility of those who committed this reprehensible crime,” warned Minister Sánchez.
Meanwhile, videos circulating online showed dramatic scenes of apparent non-combatants – people dressed in civilian clothing – attacking anti-riot vehicles with sticks, stones and molotov cocktails. Other footage filmed the night after the event recorded many gunshots fired and people running in the streets.
Minister Sanchéz accused fighters of the Frente Carlos Patiño of infiltrating the community dressed as civilians to instigate the protests.
“These acts constitute war crimes that violate international humanitarian law and human rights, by displacing, confining, isolating and frightening the civilian population, preventing them from exercising their fundamental rights and freedoms,” he announced on X.
The immediate problem of the detained troops was being addressed by the Cauca department Governor Miller Hurtado who had requested “international collaboration” for the release of the persons detained through mediation with the community.
The defense minister’s and Cauca governor’s comments highlighted two opposed narratives evolving during the crisis: that the police and soldiers were being “detained by the community” or had been “kidnapped by an armed group.”
According to Semana magazine, messages intercepted by military intelligence between Frente Carlos Patiño fighters demonstrated a campaign by the armed group to pressure the civilian community into confronting state forces.
One senior commander, alias Giovanny, had reportedly ordered a “total blockade on the purchase of coca leaves” as a means of extorting local farmers to rise up against the state. His plan was to inform the community that no-one can sell coca until the military withdraws, according to Semana.
Coca harvests, which provide source material for the lucrative cocaine industry, are a staple crop for farmers in Cañon del Micay region of Cauca, with 20,000 hectares under cultivation in a zone which for decades has been outside of government control.
According to community leaders interviewed on local radio, the area had “historically been abandoned” with farmers not having alternatives to the illicit coca trade.
In all of Colombia’s coca growing regions, irregular armed groups pressure local farmers to grow coca then tax and control the illicit trade, and in return, repel state forces and efforts to uproot coca crops.
For its part, in response, Minister Sanchéz said on his X account that the government had made it clear to coca-growing communities that “no forced eradication actions will be carried out in the Cañon del Micay, instead opting for voluntary crop substitution to improve the living conditions of farmers.”
Meanwhile tensions persisted in El Plateado and nearby villages as the community and mediators were seeking the release of the detained police and soldiers.
Featured image: Members of Colombia’s security forces have been detained in El Plateado, Cauca. The military accuses a local guerrilla front of being behind the detention. Image credit: Noticias RCN (@NoticiasRCN) via X. https://twitter.com/NoticiasRCN/status/1898080951898460573
