As part of joint military operations, troops from the 1st Direct Action and Reconnaissance Battalion, part of the National Army’s 1st Rapid Deployment Force, the Colombian Aerospace Force, and in coordination with the National Police, engaged in combat with members of the Jorge Suárez Briceño Bloc residual organized armed group in a rural area of the municipality of La Macarena, Meta, significantly impairing its logistical, financial, and criminal capabilities.
The military operation carried out in the rural area of La Esperanza, the result of military intelligence efforts and continuous surveillance of the leader known by the alias Patepalo, led to the seizure of a large quantity of war material, explosives, communications devices, and items used for extortion against the civilian population. Among the materials found were three pistols, a revolver, ten magazines for 5.56-millimeter rifles, more than 600 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, an IM26 hand grenade, six improvised explosive devices, supply materials, technological equipment, GPS devices, cell phones, and a generator.
According to information gathered during the operation, alias Patepalo continues to coerce the civilian population in an attempt to evade law enforcement, hiding in rural homes and using family settings with minors present as human shields to hinder the advance of troops and preserve his criminal structure.
These actions, in addition to seriously endangering the lives and safety of rural communities, constitute a flagrant violation of human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law, as they use the civilian population as a means of protection and coercion.
Likewise, the troops found more than 100 million pesos in cash, allegedly the proceeds of extortion from farmers, merchants, and ranchers in this region of the country. Similarly, ten books of summonses used to coerce the civilian population were seized, along with stamps bearing the FARC-EP insignia and subversive doctrinal material used for ideological indoctrination and to bolster the illicit economies of this criminal organization.
With this result, the National Army’s Omega Task Force continues to weaken the capabilities of the Jorge Suárez Briceño Bloc and reaffirms its commitment to protecting communities in southeastern Colombia by neutralizing threats that affect the peace, security, and freedom of the civilian population in the departments of Meta, Guaviare, and Caquetá.
