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Tag: FARC

  • Colombian soldiers find solace in ‘furry force’ emotional support dogs

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    BOGOTA. Colombia (AP) — At the Central Military Hospital in Bogota, an unusual unit patrols the hallways with a mission unlike any other battalion: lifting the spirits of soldiers wounded in combat.

    Kratos, Rafa and Lupa make up the so-called “furry force,” a group of emotional support dogs that visit service members recovering after being injured in clashes with Colombia’s illegal armed groups.

    One by one, the three dogs enter the room of 2nd Sgt. Jeisson Sánchez Duque, who was shot during fighting in the northwest province of Antioquia. Kratos, the most senior of the dogs, greeted him with a paw after receiving treats. Then, Lupa settled on the floor and Sánchez brushed her as he remained seated due to his back injury.

    “It’s something different … you forget the pain and focus on the dogs,” Sánchez told The Associated Press.

    Soldiers are still battling the scars from a decades-long conflict in Colombia that led to 450,000 people killed and forced 7 million to flee their homes. Despite a 2016 peace agreement between the government and the country’s largest guerrilla group the FARC, various armed groups still operate in Colombia. These groups, including some who broke from the FARC, dispute territories vacated by the FARC and the valuable illicit economies that run through them, including drug trafficking.

    Launched in April 2024 after a visit from an animal care organization, the program aims to provide psychological support and ease recovery for soldiers facing both physical and emotional scars, including amputations from landmines and injuries from drones dropping explosives.

    According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), incidents involving explosive devices in Colombia rose 94% between January and July compared to the same period in 2024. The hospital has also noted an increase in patients who have been injured by explosives launched by drones.

    Kratos was donated by the Air Force, then Rafa by the Army and then two more dogs were donated by the hospital’s doctors.

    The program has since expanded to let patients bring their own dogs and provide wellness breaks for staff.

    “(The dogs) show a benefit in patient recovery, supported by physiological changes that occur during interactions, which we might view as recreational, but in this case, they are therapeutic for patients,” Eliana Patricia Ramírez, the hospital’s deputy medical director, explained to the AP.

    For soldier Luis Miguel López, who lost part of his leg to a mine in Puerto Valdivia in Antioquia province, the dogs’ visits helped break through the depression he felt while in the hospital.

    The experience also reminded him of Goma, an anti-explosives dog who saved his unit several times before being killed by a blast.

    “I was so depressed in my room, because I was holed up in there. My wife gave me support but it wasn’t the same,” he said.

    “When those dogs come in, they change you because they bring happiness.”

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    Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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  • Attack at a police station in Colombia by FARC dissidents kills 1, injures 4

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    BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Dissidents of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia attacked a police station in southwestern Colombia Sunday, killing a police officer and wounding four people, authorities said.

    The army said on X that troops entered the town of Carmelo, in the Cauca department, to restore order after “terrorist actions” that appeared to be in response to a police operation against criminal groups in the area.

    Operating in the region are dissidents of the notorious FARC rebel group who do not accept the 2016 peace agreement. The FARC for decades fought the government, carrying out assassinations, hijackings and bombings to undermine authorities in Bogota.

    The dissidents are under the command of Néstor Gregorio Vera, known as Iván Mordisco, who is one of the most wanted individuals in the country. His factions withdrew from peace talks with the government of Gustavo Petro.

    The Colombian army said the armed groups used local residents as human shields to prevent troops from entering the area to support police efforts.

    The governor of Cauca, Octavio Guzmán, said on X that he made an urgent call to Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez to ask for the restoration public order and the protection of the local population.

    Local press shared videos apparently recorded by residents taking shelter from gunfire. Other videos show the attack on the police station with gunfire and grenades, as the ambushed officers cried out for help.

    At least three police officers were injured in a similar attack in the Cauca department late August.

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  • Hundreds kidnap 45 soldiers in a rebel-influenced area of Colombia, army says

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    BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Hundreds of people surrounded and kidnapped 45 soldiers working to implement programs to replace illicit crops in the southwest of Colombia, in an area of influence of a rebel group, the Colombian army said Sunday.

    The army said in a press release that the incident happened Sunday in the Micay Canyon, in the Cauca department, an area known for coca leaf crops and a current bastion of a rebel faction that broke away from the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. That group has been attacking military positions.

    The army said the 45 soldiers were “kidnapped,” after being surrounded by around 600 people who prevented them to be deployed in the area.

    This is the second time soldiers have been taken in less than a month.

    In August, 33 soldiers were also taken, allegedly by villagers acting under the orders of a rebel group in the southern department of Guaviare following a gunfight that killed 10 members of a FARC holdout group.

    The army said back then that the villagers holding the soldiers captive were demanding the return of a slain rebel’s body, which was transported to a morgue in the provincial capital. The soldiers were released after four days.

    Colombia has struggled to maintain security in some rural areas, where drug gangs and rebel groups are fighting over territory abandoned by the FARC, the guerilla group that made peace with the government in 2016.

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  • Colombia armed groups confining people to homes, communities: NRC

    Colombia armed groups confining people to homes, communities: NRC

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    Norwegian Refugee Council calls for ‘lasting peace’ to end restrictions on freedom of movement across Colombia.

    Armed groups in Colombia are confining people to their homes and communities in a bid to exert control over territory, said the Norwegian Refugee Council, which called on the authorities to do more to ensure citizens can move freely.

    The NRC said on Thursday that millions of people are affected by six “ongoing non-international armed conflicts” in which armed groups use confinement “to exert control over isolated communities and territories that are often used for illicit activities”.

    “Imagine being forced to stay in your home by men with guns – day after day. The confinements in Colombia mean you can’t work, visit your family or send your children to school,” Juan Gabriel Wells, interim country director for NRC in Colombia, said in a statement.

    “We call on the Colombian government and non-state armed actors to agree on a lasting peace that benefits the vulnerable populations affected by these inhumane restrictions of movement.”

    Thursday marks the six-year anniversary of a peace deal between Bogota and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that saw members of the left-wing rebel group lay down their weapons. But some FARC dissidents rejected the agreement and have picked up arms again.

    Violence has surged in Colombia since the signing of the accord, especially in parts of the country that lay outside government control and where armed groups are involved in drug trafficking and other illicit activities.

    Last weekend, at least 18 people died in fighting involving FARC dissidents and a criminal band that calls itself “Comandos de la Frontera” or “Border Commandos” in southwest Colombia, near the border with Ecuador. The two groups were battling for control of drug trafficking routes.

    The incident marked the deadliest fight between illegal armed groups since left-wing Colombian President Gustavo Petro took office in August.

    Petro has promised to bring “total peace” to the country after nearly six decades of armed conflict that left at least 450,000 dead between 1985 and 2018 alone.

    And earlier this week, Petro’s government began peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s largest remaining rebel group, in neighbouring Venezuela.

    The delegates said in a joint declaration that they had gathered to restart a dialogue “with full political and ethical will, as demanded by the people of rural and urban territories that suffer from violence and exclusion, and other sectors of society”.

    The first round of negotiations will last 20 days, with diplomats from Venezuela, Cuba and Norway helping in the negotiations, while representatives from Chile and Spain will observe the process.

    Citing figures from the United Nations humanitarian affairs office (UN-OCHA), the NRC said on Thursday that more than 2.6 million people had their movements restricted so far this year due to continuing violence, with “Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities being some of the worst affected”.

    “The rules imposed by the armed groups are: ‘you can’t go out;’ ‘you can’t use that road;’ ‘we don’t want to see any people passing through here.’ We are trapped,” Cecil, an Indigenous teacher from the Pacific coast region, said in the NRC statement.

    “Where I live, we are afraid to walk [outside] – we can’t do it freely,” a resident of southwest Colombia, Nelsa, also said.

    President Gustavo Petro has promised to bring ‘total peace’ to Colombia [File: Nathalia Angarita/Reuters]

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