About 10,000 soldiers of the Eighth Division of Colombian National Army are deployed in the departments of Arauca, Casanare, Vichada and Guainía, where with military operations they fulfill the constitutional mission of neutralizing the criminal operations of organized armed groups outlaw.
In the first half of 2024, the soldiers of the Eighth Division of Colombian National Army, divided into the brigades that depend on this military unit: Sixteenth Brigade, in Casanare; Quirón Task Force and Eighteenth Brigade, in Arauca, and Twenty-Eighth Brigade, in the departments of Vichada and Guainía, have neutralized and combat the criminal operations that organized armed groups outlaw have generated in this region of eastern Colombia, reducing the beatings dealt to the inhabitants and their resources.
Thus, in a joint, coordinated and inter-institutional manner with the Colombian Navy, the Colombian Aerospace Force, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office, within the framework of operations, it was possible to arrest 77 alleged members of the Organized Armed Groups, GAO Residual, GAO ELN and GAO Clan del Golfo, who specialized in extortion, kidnappings, illicit financing activities or illegal logistics.
398 individuals were in the same way arrested for illegal acts such as drug trafficking or for crimes that disturb citizen security and the coexistence of the inhabitants; in addition, 28 more people were arrested for crimes that damage the environment.
In defense of the rights of children and adolescents, military stability operations have led to the recovery of 14 minors who were forcibly recruited by the organized armed groups, GAO residual and the GAO ELN. When they are received and recovered by the soldiers, they pass to the immediate protection of the Colombian Family Wellbeing Institute, in order to provide the restitution of their rights.
As for the work carried out to safeguard the lives of the inhabitants, in 2024 the threat of 737 improvised explosive devices has been neutralized, thus preventing armed groups from carrying out their terrorist intentions against the lives of the inhabitants, in addition to the finding of about 380 kilograms of explosive material. The explosive devices were mostly found on roads, highways and pedestrian crossings near the communities, which puts the inhabitants who pass through them at risk.
The tireless operation of the Unified operation Groups for Personal Freedom (GAULA), in the departments of Arauca and Casanare, have led to the return to freedom of six people who were in the hands of organized armed groups.
The struggle of Colombian National Army in the same way focuses on neutralizing operations that attack the environment, therefore, in operations against the illicit extraction of mining deposits carried out especially in the departments of Vichada and Guainía, the threat of 17 attacks on natural resources has been neutralized; an illegal mining production unit, four dredgers and 22 engines that would be used for this practice that puts at risk the flora and fauna of this region of the east and the Colombian Amazon have been found. Troops have in the same way found 261 cubic meters of wood, product of illegal logging, and more than 100 tons of Coltan.
For its part, drug trafficking, in additions to be an illicit activity, attacks natural resources due to the production processes that are carried out to obtain coca paste base or cocaine hydrochloride, as chemical agents are dumped into fertile land and water sources. Thus, in 2024, 3,500 coca bushes have been destroyed in seedbeds, more than 1.3 tons of cocaine and more than 3 tons of marijuana have been found, as well as 38 kilos of coca paste base, adding up to the finding of approximately 30,000 kilograms of solid precursors and about 750 gallons of liquid precursors. In the same way, 43 coca paste base laboratories and one cocaine hydrochloride laboratory were destroyed.
Source: Eighth Division
