18 kidnapped Colombian soldiers released

The Ombudsman’s Office reports that the 18 Colombian soldiers who were abducted during an operation against the ELN rebel group have been freed.

Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Sunday that the troops were surrounded by “nearly 200 people and forcibly transferred, against their will, to an indigenous reservation” in Choco Department in the northwest of the nation, close to the Panamanian border.

According to a social media post by the state organization in charge of human rights protection, locals turned up the troops to a humanitarian committee composed of officials from the Catholic Church and the Ombudsman’s Office on Monday.

The troops were being transferred to Choco’s capital Quibdo.

A video released by the Ombudsman’s Office showed the soldiers collecting their tactical equipment and weapons.

The ELN, or National Liberation Army, controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia, which is grappling with its worst security crisis in a decade, fueled by criminal groups profiting from trafficking, extortion and illegal mining.

Founded in 1964 and inspired by the Cuban revolution, the ELN is the oldest surviving guerrilla group in the Americas, and is challenging leftist President Gustavo Petro after peace talks failed.

Since last year, talks between the ELN and the Petro administration have come to a standstill.

Recently, US President Donald Trump issued a warning that Colombia would be “next,” as part of his pressure campaign against Nicolas Maduro, the leftist leader of Venezuela.

Nine police and military personnel were killed in one of the ELN’s two strikes against security forces that occurred last week in the southwestern city of Cali.

It is common for military and police personnel to be temporarily detained in areas of Colombia controlled by armed groups that lack government oversight.

The defense minister earlier condemned the kidnapping of the troops, saying that restricting military operations puts local communities at “serious risk.”

In September, 72 soldiers were detained by hundreds of residents in the Micay Canyon, an enclave for cocaine production dominated by dissident rebels from the now-defunct FARC group.

A month earlier, 33 uniformed personnel were freed after being held for three days in the department of Guaviare.