This year, 12,971 square meters were cleared with Manual Demining Technique in the departments of Bolívar and Sucre.
To date, 669 people have been trained in Mine Risk Education.
The Colombian Navy, through its men of the Humanitarian Demining Company, decided during 2022 that the department of Sucre would be declared a territory free of anti-personnel mines, as well as carry out clearance work in the municipalities of El Salado, El Carmen de Bolívar, San Jacinto, María La Baja, Córdoba and Zambrano, in the department of Bolívar.
With this great effort, the Naval Institution led to the reactivation of the countryside contributing to the productive use of 12,971 square meters of land. In the same way, it led the return of its inhabitants, who have the firm intention of becoming the leaders of agricultural production of the Montes de María. For the latter, it made it possible for 669 inhabitants of the areas in which the clearance tasks were carried out to be trained through educational workshops on “Mine Risks”.
The instruction to vulnerable inhabitants on mines, unexploded ordnance and booby traps, has the objective of instilling safe guidelines and behaviors in the inhabitants of the territories hit by the armed conflict, to prevent accidents with devices that may put at risk the good human physical condition of the Montemarians.
For this prioritized mission, the Colombian Navy participated in a workshop led by eight official facilitators in Mine Risk Education of the Organization of American States (OAS) to acquire and deepen their techniques and knowledge in this preventive operation.
This is how the Humanitarian Demining personnel of the Naval Institution, effectively contributes to the progress and economic development of the Caribbean region, presenting territories free of suspected anti-personnel mines, which leads to the return of peasants to rural areas, promoting the productive use of land, generating harvests and sowing hope; these are works that give men and women of the countryside free transit without fear by their lands.
Source: Press - Navy of Colombia
