White Paper: An Analysis of Colombia’s Mine Clearing Operations

One of the consequences of decades of violence in Colombia is the proliferation of thousands of anti-personnel mines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and unexploded ordnance that litter the countryside. While the situation is not as dire as in decades past, and the number of casualties and fatalities due to mines and other explosives has  decreased in recent years, the country is unfortunately experiencing a resurgence in violence which translates to an increase in the number of mine-related injuries and deaths.

In order to deal with this deadly problem, the Colombian military and international organizations, particularly the Halo Trust, carry out humanitarian demining operations across the country. In this white paper,  we will review Colombia’s demining efforts...

Click the download button for the full White Paper.

A note from the Editor:

I am delighted to publish this White Paper that draws attention to the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) efforts taking place in Colombia, and throughout Latin America more widely. It is not only a great pleasure to publish the work of Wilder Alejandro Sanchez, but also to bring attention to an important issue in a part of the world with which Defence iQ has strong relationships.

Defence iQ for the past decade has organized a number of conference in Latin America and the Caribbean with the formal support of host governments, and I have had the great fortune to attend many of them, and make friends across the region. In particular, our conference have focused on security, counter-narcotics and the modernization of armed forces across the region.

Despite a lack of inter-state war across Latin America since the 1995 Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador, there are vast swathes of ungoverned space which at various times been controlled by narco-terrorists and insurgent groups who have placed vast quantities of land mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The paper outlines the successes that have been had, and the progress made by the Colombian Armed Forces and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) such as the HALO Trust.

I hope you will find it a useful update on the situation and I encourage you to download it.

Alexander Stephenson

Editor, Defence iQ