- Military and police security forces will be reinforced with additional personnel, technical, and technological capabilities. - The Aerospace Force will deploy an additional aircraft to carry out reconnaissance, surveillance, and strike missions in the department’s most critical areas. - Arauca has seen significant reductions in indicators of homicide, incarceration, terrorism, theft, kidnapping, and other crimes.
At the conclusion of a Strategic Security Meeting, Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez Suárez announced a series of commitments and measures aimed at strengthening the security presence in the department of Arauca.
Accompanied by military and police leadership, as well as regional commanders and authorities, he announced the gradual and phased arrival of 21 platoons (more than 600 personnel) from the National Army, who will be deployed to strategic areas to combat criminal groups.
According to the schedule, three of these platoons will arrive this May with armored vehicles, high-powered motorcycles, and surveillance and monitoring drones. Additionally, approximately 70 soldiers with diverse capabilities for conducting ground operations will arrive before the end of this month.
The remaining 16 platoons, comprising around 500 men and women, will be in the department of Arauca between August and October.
Similarly, the Colombian Aerospace Force will send another helicopter in the coming hours, equipped to conduct reconnaissance, surveillance, and attack operations. This aims to enhance the Public Force’s aerial capabilities to support the efforts of ground troops.
During the Strategic Security Meeting, attended by the Governor of Arauca and the mayors and delegates of Arauca, Saravena, Fortul, Cravo Norte, Puerto Rondón, Arauquita, and Tame, it was also announced that inter-institutional coordination between regional and local governments and the Public Force will be strengthened in several areas with the aim of designing strategies to address criminal issues in this region. Likewise, regarding intelligence matters, the intelligence bubble, led by the National Police, will be strengthened and will focus on combating the scourge of extortion.
The Colombian Navy will also strengthen its riverine component with a Navy platoon arriving in the coming weeks, thereby increasing control and institutional presence on the rivers of this region of the Colombian Orinoquia.
Minister Pedro Sánchez Suárez also stated that under the new CONPES (National Council for Economic and Social Policy), the arrival of new vessels is planned to improve mobility and enhance operational capabilities on the rivers.
New vehicles will be sent to the municipalities of Cravo Norte and Puerto Rondón for the National Police, providing them with the best tools to fulfill their mission of ensuring public safety and peace of mind.
The Minister of Defense highlighted that the department of Arauca has seen a significant improvement in the rates of various crimes that previously affected the civilian population. This is because inter-institutional coordination between the Military Forces and the National Police with local and regional authorities has enabled a 44% reduction in homicides by 2025, with a 6% reduction already observed this year. As for confinement, it has been reduced by 100%. Similarly, terrorism has decreased by 63%, theft has dropped by 40%, and kidnapping has fallen by 74%.
The Minister took advantage of his visit to Arauca to express his solidarity with the families, colleagues, and friends of Jesús Antonio Pacheco Oviedo and Rodrigo Antonio López Estrada, the two public workers from the Attorney General’s Office who were kidnapped a year ago by the ELN criminal group.
Regarding this incident, the head of the Defense Ministry confirmed that citizens can provide information (in complete confidence) via the national toll-free anti-terrorism hotline 107, which could lead to the release of these two citizens, whom their loved ones are waiting for at home.
