An aerial tragedy has occurred in Colombia. The military found the bodies of nine of the 11 servicemen who went missing after a helicopter fell on Tuesday. The aircraft took part in an operation against dissidents of the former Farc guerrillas in the south-east of the country.
The executive evokes an "accident"
The Black Hawk helicopter, with 17 soldiers on board, crashed into an arm of the Inirida river, on the border between the departments of Guaviare and Vaupès. President Ivan Duque deplored this "accident" and confirmed that it had occurred during "operations against illegals". The staff did not say whether the helicopter had been shot down or whether it was an accident.
Hoy tenemos un inmenso dolor. Las @FuerzasMilCol confirmaron the muerte of 9 de los 11 militares desaparecidos y 6 heridos en el accidente del helicóptero que cumplía funciones operacionales. Acompañamos a las familias en este momento y reconocemos el heroísmo de estos hombres. pic.twitter.com/9dxshO4rU0
- Iván Duque 🇨🇴 (@IvanDuque) July 22, 2020"The commission of the Air Attack Division of the national army is on the spot to initiate the necessary investigations to determine the circumstances in which the facts occurred", specified the general staff. The commander of the armed forces, General Luis Fernando Navarro, went to a nearby military base to lead “maneuvers aimed at recovering the missing”. The Minister of Defense, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, for his part referred to an "air accident", adding that the injured had to be "transferred to Bogota for medical treatment".
A strategic region for drug trafficking
In the region of Inirida, strategic for drug trafficking, operates the most important dissident group of the Farc, commanded by "Ivan Mordisco" in alliance with "Gentil Duarte", guerrilla leader who had succeeded in participating in the peace talks. from 2012 to 2016 in Cuba. But Duarte then moved away from the peace process and organized the unification of the rebels who rejected the agreement signed with the government of the former president (2010-2018) Juan Manuel Santos, Nobel Peace Prize winner.
According to the military intelligence services, the dissent has at least 2,300 members, who are funded by drug trafficking and illegal mining. The peace agreement allowed the disarmament of some 7,000 men and women among the 13,000 members registered in what has become the Common Revolutionary Alternative Force (Farc) party.
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- Colombia
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- World