In the first half of 2024, the U.S. Embassy’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) Affairs delivered seven new buildings to the Colombian Army to strengthen its counternarcotics operations in the departments of Norte de Santander and Antioquia.
Two modular buildings were delivered in June to the San Jorge Military Canton in Cúcuta, Norte de Santander, valued at more than $1.3 million, the Colombian Army said. The buildings will house some 150 service members and will serve as an operations planning room.
These facilities were assigned to the personnel of the 1st Brigade against Narcotrafficking, a unit of the Command against Drug Trafficking and Transnational Threats (CONAT) of the Aviation and Air Assault Division. The unit’s mission is to plan, develop, and supervise offensive, defensive, and stability tasks, through interdiction operations, using air, land, and river techniques, as well as special operations throughout the national territory, CONAT indicated.
“This important building will make it possible to provide a meeting and transit point for special counternarcotics units, which are deployed throughout the national territory, together with the institutions located in the northeastern region of the country, [and which] mitigate narcotrafficking in the different municipalities of the region, making it possible to increase troops’ combat morale and preserve the integrity and quality of life of the soldiers,” CONAT told Diálogo.
CONAT faces challenges such as transnational organized crime, narcotrafficking, illegal exploitation of mineral deposits, extortion, and illicit economies. Norte de Santander is identified as one of 15 narcotrafficking enclaves, and the department is considered a key corridor for cocaine trafficking to international markets, CONAT said. “According to intelligence information and information from national and international agencies, cells of the Frente de Guerra Nororiental and the Luis Orlando Padierna subgroup of the Clan del Golfo commit crimes in the area.”
Meanwhile, in mid-April, the INL delivered five buildings, an investment of nearly $2.5 million, to the 31st Rifles Airborne Infantry Battalion in Bajo Cauca, Antioquia department. The buildings include living quarters, operational rooms, and kitchens, which will serve more than 300 service members while supporting their deployment against transnational threats.
“This building will allow the Colombian Army to have a meeting point for the different CONAT units in this area of the country,” Kevin Murakami, director of INL Bogotá, told the media. “[As well as to] deploy them in an agile and rapid manner so that they can carry out operations focused on the interdiction and destruction of laboratories and infrastructure for production, and also so that they can dismantle illegal mining extraction points, which are very important bilateral security objectives.”
As such, the aim is to facilitate military operations against narcotrafficking and transnational threats, as well as to reduce operational costs and expand the military presence in key areas to bring security in Colombia.
“When the young officers and noncommissioned officers from the operations area come to these facilities, they are going to be very impressed,” said General Omar Sepúlveda, second-in-command of the National Army, during the handover ceremony in Antioquia. “It is going to be reflected in the increase of offensive military operations that we are conducting in these coca areas and illegal mining areas, which is what we are fighting.”
The facilities will not only facilitate counternarcotics operations but will also reduce operational costs and expand military presence in areas critical to national security. “This work will support our capabilities by extending military operations in the departments of Córdoba, Bolívar, Sucre, and northern Antioquia department,” the Colombian Army indicated.
“The U.S. government’s commitment to our country is evident in its support to consolidate our territory in the face of internal threats, providing military assistance to other institutions to confront organized armed groups and other criminal phenomena.”
