Army announces measures after attack in Arauca: there will be rewards and more military personnel in the department

The commander of the Colombian Military Forces, General Luis Fernando Navarro, has just announced the measures that the institutions will take in charge of guaranteeing the safety of Colombians, after the attack that took the lives of five members of the National Army, leaving six more injured this Saturday, September 11, in Arauca.

“In the operational meeting held with the regional Commanders of this jurisdiction that we have just concluded, a review of the situation of the troops and the strengthening of military operations was ordered in order to dismantle the terrorist actions of these structures that they commit crimes in the department of Arauca ”, said the uniformed man.

After this, he declared that the responsibility for the attack registered in the area of ​​Juju, municipality of Arauquita, is attributed to an alliance between the ELN’s Eastern War Front, whose main leader is alias Raúl or Nacho; the Heroes and Martyrs structure, from the same insurgent group, led by alias Gavilán and structure 10 of the FARC dissidents, which are led by alias Arturo.

These, Navarro reported, planned the attack from Venezuela and entrusted the task of carrying it out to alias Culebro Viejo, second leader of the Héroes y Mártires structure. It is worth remembering that the latter is take Colombians to the other side of the border with Venezuela, assassinate them and later return them to this side and vice versa, For this reason, since last week $ 300 million (about 75 thousand dollars) of reward has been offered for information that leads to his capture.

For that reason, it was decided that “300 men will return to the department in order to strengthen territorial control and non-formal border crossings”. Likewise, it was decided to double the capacity of the Colombian National Navy by increasing its presence and river control in the Arauca River.

In that sense, it will be sought increase the number of joint operations carried out by members of the Colombian National Army, Navy and Air Force in border areas, to strengthen control of irregular crossings, river accesses and airspace.

All this, as part of the order that was issued to launch a joint and sustained offensive against the three criminal structures. For the same, It will seek to strengthen preventive and anticipatory intelligence actions through an additional intelligence device of the National Army, which will join the one that already exists.

Additionally, Radio Nacional de Colombia reported that the authorities are offering rewards of up to $ 638 million for information that may lead to the capture of the men known as alias Nacho and alias Arturo, as well as an increase in that of alias Culebro Viejo, which is now $ 400 million (just over $ 100,000). They also offered $ 40 million ($ 10,000) for another dissident identified by the alias Freddy.

It is worth remembering that in the attack registered this morning, explosive devices, rifle and machine gun bursts, to attack the uniformed. These last They were attached to the 27th Ground Operations Battalion of the Chiron Task Force and were guarding an oil pipeline in the area.

The attack left five dead: the Second Sergeant Luis Argiro Durango Mazo and professional soldiers Julián Adolfo Torres Loaiza, Kevin Enrique Sibaja Lambertino, Jeferson Gamboa Robledo and Kebinson Alberto Campo Flórez; and six wounded: the professional soldiers Juan Carlos Mora Díaz, Libardo González Guzmán, Freidy Geovany Caicedo Camilo, Dayvid Alexander Montoya Palacio, Anderson Jair Ramírez Rojas, and Yoseph Alfredo Peña Vargas.

The Defense Minister, Diego Molano, described the event as a “terrorist and cowardly act […] That alliance between the ELN and the FARC dissidents who plan terrorist acts in Venezuela and then with a macabre game execute them in Colombia.

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