Sawt Falasteen - Colombian guerillas release hostage security forces

At around noon on Saturday, residents of the community of La Hacienda in the department of Cauca told the detainees that they were free to go.

The men, held since Thursday, collected their riot gear and left along a dirt road, escorted by local residents, AFP saw.

The three-hour journey to El Plateado, where the men were released, was tense, with a an unidentified drone flying over the convoy and fierce arguments between the villagers and officials of the Ombudsman's Office.

"We're back, my colonel!" said one of the released soldiers before embracing his comrades, AFP witnessed.

In a post on social media platform X, President Gustavo Petro confirmed that the men were free.

The 29 men were detained on Thursday after a day of clashes between residents and security forces, part of a government military operation aimed at ending drug-related violence in a region with one of the highest concentrations of coca crops in Colombia.

The government said the officers were being held by a dissident FARC guerrilla group, the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), for whom the Canon del Micay region is a stronghold.

The troops were being held captive in a community center. They were fed daily, shared a single bathroom without a shower and were watched day and night, according to their testimonies.

Those were days of "anxiety," said Diego Alvarez, one the detained men. "I don't even know what day it is today."

As he left La Hacienda, Major Nilson Bedoya said that throughout the ordeal he could not help but think of his family.

"My family, my wife, my son, who are waiting for me at home," he said, in a pained voice, as he carried his gear on his shoulder.

- 'Legitimate' force? -

Earlier Saturday in an interview with W Radio, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to use "the legitimate force of the state" to have the troops released.

Sanchez and other representatives of the leftist government of President Petro were to meet with residents of the departmental capital, Popayan, to listen to local concerns.

Officials said that, on Thursday, guerillas and members of the public confronted and overwhelmed security services who were trying to reestablish state control in two municipalities.

Government images showed gangs pelting a flaming armored vehicle with rocks, and riot police detonating smoke grenades amid a running gun battle.

"It looked like a horror movie... Stiven was set on fire alive," said Bedoya, referring to a colleague who had to jump into a pool of water to save himself.

Petro accused the EMC of "using the civilian population" to attack troops.

Later on Saturday, new tensions arose in the Canon del Micay. Hundreds of villagers climbed a mountain to reach a strategic military base, shouting for the withdrawal of soldiers from El Plateado.

The cornered soldiers gathered their weapons and personal belongings and began to leave the area, surrounded by an angry crowd.

The kidnappings were a major embarrassment -- and a stern challenge -- for Colombia's government, which is struggling with its worst unrest in a decade involving spasms of violence in several parts of the country.

Since October, Bogota has been trying to retake control of parts of Cauca from the EMC.

Petro's government is proposing an ambitious crop substitution program to combat the drug trafficking economy, a strategy that locals have denounced as a campaign of "forced eradication" of coca crops.

"There is not going to be eradication of crops by force," said Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, accusing cartels of trying to deceive the local population.

"We will continue to work for these lands so that people can have a better future," said Bedoya, the soldier.

"The peasants were sold the idea that we are their enemies, but we are their best allies."

S.Abdullah--SF-PST