Cauca dawned again under fire this Saturday, November 15, in the midst of a new wave of attacks attributed to FARC dissidents that keep several municipalities in the department under tension.

Since the early hours of the morning, violent harassment was reported against the Police substation of the Mondomo district, in Santander de Quilichao, while in Balboa a professional soldier was kidnapped during armed confrontations.

According to community accounts, the attack in Mondomo began around 5:00 in the morning, when more than 200 armed men, apparently members of the ‘Jaime Martínez’ structure, used drones loaded with explosives to directly hit the police facilities.

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Immediately afterwards, the harassment intensified with rifle bursts and detonations that shook homes, businesses and even the township parish.

The magnitude of the offensive forced the suspension of practically all commercial activities in the area.

Hours before, in the municipality of Balboa, Army troops were ambushed by dissidents from the ‘Carlos Patiño’ front. In the middle of the combat, the professional soldier Víctor Hugo Yepes García was kidnapped and five more soldiers were injured. The institution announced that it will denounce the kidnapping and requested support from international organizations in the face of the escalation of violence.

These events are added to the detonation of a car bomb on the Pan-American highway and the attack against Senator Temístocles Ortega during the same day, showing that the security situation in Cauca is going through one of its most critical moments of the year.

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