Colombian coca farmers have taken about 180 soldiers hostage.
As General Ómar Sepúlveda said on Thursday, the farmers had already "kidnapped" the soldiers under his command on Tuesday when they wanted to destroy illegal coca plantations in the northeast of the country near the border with Venezuela.
The soldiers were surrounded by farmers armed with sticks and machetes, said Sepúlveda.
The soldiers are therefore being held in a school.
A video shown to AFP journalists by the military shows a group of soldiers in camouflage clothing and with rifles crouching while civilians guard them.
A farmer's spokesman, who referred to himself as "junior," said on the radio that they were ready to negotiate the group's release.
Contrary to promises to the contrary, the government in Bogotá did not help them to replace coca plantings with legal crops, the spokesman said.
The office of the Colombian ombudsman for human rights announced on Twitter that a delegation had been sent to the farmers in the community of Tibú to obtain the release of the soldiers.
Tibú is located in the Catatumbo region, which, according to the UN, is the largest drug-growing area in the world with more than 40,000 hectares of coca plantations.
Accordingly, Colombia is the largest cocaine producer in the world.
Former members of the disbanded Farc rebel group and other armed groups are fighting for control of the lucrative drug trafficking along the Venezuelan border.
The government is cracking down on it.
Soldiers often destroy coca plantations, the only livelihood for thousands of farmers and migrant workers.
There are always clashes with coca farmers.