The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has ordered the transfer of 400 soldiers to the department of Putumayo to try to tackle the insecurity caused by the confrontation between armed groups.
Petro, who convened the Security Council to address the issue, has stressed that Putumayo will receive six squads of the National Army to guarantee security in the area, as reported by the Colombian station RCN Radio.
In the words of the Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada, the military will be in charge of “operations and full control of the territory” with the fundamental objective of controlling all traces of criminal activity.
“The aim is to block the drug trafficking corridors to the other countries in the south. We will establish contact with the countries on the border, because we notice an activity that we are going to combat with our forces but also with international support,” he said.
Putumayo has been the scene of clashes between armed groups in recent days. As part of the response operations, the authorities have carried out at least 130 arrests and have destroyed 720 cocaine processing laboratories.
