The situation escalated after an anti-insurgent operation by the military against a dissident faction of the former FARC, known as the Bloque Móvil Martín Villa. During the confrontation, local shopkeeper Ramiro Antonio Correa was killed under disputed circumstances, leading to outrage from residents who subsequently surrounded and detained the soldiers involved, demanding an explanation.

Conflicting Accounts of a Civilian Death

According to testimony from residents, the military operation began around 11:40 a.m. on Sunday. Correa was working in his store, “Las Gaviotas,” which a community member described as “a warehouse where groceries, sodas, and beers are sold.” When the firefight erupted between the army and dissident forces, Correa and seven other farmworkers sought refuge in a nearby house.

Residents allege that after the combat subsided, soldiers entered the house where the group was sheltering and ordered them to return to the store. It was then, they claim, that Correa was killed.

“Mr. Ramiro was the last one to enter of those who were there. Someone shot him. They killed him,” a local woman stated. “We are outraged because they killed him and, on top of that, they wanted to pass him off as a guerrilla. According to them, there were no dead civilians, but it turns out there was: it was him.”

The military also reported that the soldiers were being intimidated by drones, allegedly carrying explosives.

The community’s anger was further fueled when official reports of the operation did not initially account for a civilian death. The Ministry of Defense, led by Minister Pedro Sánchez, first announced the operation as a success, reporting that Willinton Vanegas Leyva, alias “Dumar,” a leader of the dissident group, and nine other combatants had been killed. Community members insist that Correa was wrongly included in that count.

The Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía) is now investigating the death, according to a statement from the Military Forces Command.

Government Response and Mediation Efforts

In response to the soldiers’ detention, the government has asserted that the community is being manipulated by armed groups. Minister Sánchez claimed the action was instigated under coercion from alias “Yimmi Martínez,” another local FARC dissident leader. A separate official source attributed the order to an alias “Jimmy Parra,” a commander in the FARC’s Central General Staff (EMC).

Meanwhile, a high-level delegation has arrived in the area to negotiate the soldiers’ release. The group includes representatives from the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, the Ombudsman’s Office of Colombia (Defensoría del Pueblo), the Inspector General’s Office, and the OAS Mission to Support the Peace Process (MAPP-OEA). The military high command, including Admiral Francisco Cubides, commander of the Military Forces, is on-site to lead the negotiations.

The government has also prepared a “Plan B,” deploying reinforcements from the Marines, Army Special Forces, and the National Police’s Dialogue and Order Maintenance Unit (UNDMO) to the region in case a negotiated release is not achieved.

Admiral Cubides confirmed that the detained soldiers have their campaign rations and are hydrated, but described a tense environment where they were kept awake by bonfires lit around their position. The military also reported that the soldiers were being intimidated by drones, allegedly carrying explosives.

Johnny Casanova, the mayor of El Retorno, has called for a thorough investigation and urged officials to listen to the community’s version of events.

“We know that serious human rights violations have occurred, resulting in the regrettable loss of human life and affecting peasant and indigenous families in the region,” Mayor Casanova said in a dialogue with local radio station Marandua Stereo.

A statement from the Corps of Retired Generals and Admirals condemned the soldiers’ detention as a “direct attack on the State and its institutions” and called for the government to establish clear protocols to prevent such events. As of Wednesday morning, the soldiers remain held by the community, and negotiations for their release are ongoing.

Colombian soldiers. Photo credit: Alejoturola from Pixabay.