BOGOTA
\nEighteen Colombian troops have been kidnapped while conducting an operation against the ELN guerrilla group, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said Sunday.
\nThe soldiers were surrounded by \u201cnearly 200 people and forcibly transferred, against their will, to an indigenous reservation\u201d in Choco Department in the country\u2019s northwest, near the border with Panama, Sanchez said in a post on X.
\nFounded in 1964 and inspired by the Cuban revolution, the ELN, or National Liberation Army, is the oldest surviving guerrilla group in the Americas.
\nThe group controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia, which is grappling with its worst security crisis in a decade, fueled by criminal groups profiting from trafficking, extortion and illegal mining.
\nThe defense minister condemned the kidnapping of the troops, saying that restricting military operation puts local communities at \u201cserious risk.\u201d
\n\u201cThese operations aim to protect the civilian population \u2014 especially indigenous communities \u2014 from threats such as the recruitment of minors, forced displacement, and other acts associated with violence,\u201d Sanchez said.
\n\u201cPeace is not built by kidnapping soldiers or weakening the state,\u201d he added.
\nSanchez said he had asked the the interior ministry, the Choco government and human rights organizations to help secure the safe return of the soldiers.
\nA criminal complaint has also been filed with the attorney general\u2019s office.
\nChoco Governor Nubia Cordoba said that after \u201cthe detention of 18 soldiers who were carrying out their legal duties,\u201d she called an \u201cextraordinary security council\u201d to seek their release.
\nIn September, 72 soldiers were detained by hundreds of residents in the Micay Canyon, an enclave for cocaine production dominated by dissident rebels from the now-defunct FARC group.
\nA month earlier, 33 uniformed personnel were freed after being held for three days in the department of Guaviare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BOGOTA Eighteen Colombian troops have been kidnapped while conducting an operation against the ELN guerrilla group, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said Sunday. The soldiers were surrounded by \u201cnearly 200 people and forcibly transferred, against their will, to an indigenous reservation\u201d in Choco Department in the country\u2019s northwest, near the border with Panama, Sanchez said in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-521546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n