- 590 members of organized armed groups have entered the Legal Route this year.
- In the department of Chocó, this year 135 members of different criminal structures have left the weapons.
Minister of National Defense, Diego Molano Aponte, reported on Thursday morning that in the Department of Chocó 135 former members of organized armed groups, individually and voluntarily, have been surrendered thanks to the pressure of military and police operations.
Speaking to the media, Minister Molano said that the Military Forces continue to conduct the military operations, but in the same way with outstretched hand for entering the Route of Surrender.
“Today we ratify the commitment of President Iván Duque, to always keep the doors open to the Route of Legality, which is the route for those members of the Organized Armed Groups, GAO, such as the Eln, and especially, in this case, the GAO Clan del Golfo, to have a chance within the legality”, Molano said.
Those who desist of their criminal activity and, immediately, collaborate with the justice system to leave these organizations would benefit from Decree 965 of 2020, which created a new Route of Individual Surrender of members of Organized Armed Groups (GAO) to Justice.
“Eight who made the decision last week, with legal, monetary and social benefits, with even their families” … “This morning another eight former members of that criminal organization surrendered to justice, to begin the process along the Route of Legality. At the moment they are in military health”, said the Minister.
This year in the Department of Chocó, 71 members of the GAO Clan del Golfo, have made the decision to join the Route of Surrender, 15 of them would be ringleaders and 64 members of the Eln, including 12 ringleaders; so the total is 135 members of criminal structures.
“Military and police operations to hit the GAO Clan del Golfo will continue to be conducted throughout the country, including the Department of Chocó where this group is engaged in confrontations with the Eln, especially in the Middle and Upper Baudó region, where they have in the same way generated forced displacements, murdered social leaders, and engaged in drug trafficking activities”, Molano said.
Those who voluntarily want to surrender to justice, were told by the minister to identify themselves in a military unit, to begin the process, and thus have the “opportunity to enter legality. Christmas is coming, an opportunity to be with the family, and this program is open for those who want to meet their family”.
In that sense, Molano reported that he made an overflight in Alto Baudó region, 15 kilometers from Patoso, the municipal seat, where there are confrontations at this time conducted by Eln and GAO Clan del Golfo.
“An important group of these criminal groups is concentrated there, so we decided to distribute, together with the director of the Colombian Family Wellbeing Institute ICBF, Lina Arbeláez, with the National Army and the Air Force, more than 1,500 brochures, made of biodegradable paper, which have a message of invitation to demobilization and surrender", the Minister insisted.
Finally, Minister Molano said that after Operation Osiris, which led to the arrest of alias Otoniel, top ringleader of the Clan del Golfo, the end of this criminal organization began.
Source: Defence Sector Communications Office – Ministry of National Defence