On May 21, 2024, a delegation coordinated by the Group of Inter-American Humanitarian Demining Monitors in Colombia (GMI-CO), a mission of the Inter-American Defense Board in support of the Comprehensive Action Program against Antipersonnel Mines of the Organization of States Americans (AICMA-OAS), visited the Anti-Terrorist Response Area of the Criminal Investigation Directorate and Interpol of the Colombian National Police, where the Explosives Group of this institution is located. Officials from the Mission of Instructors and Advisors on Humanitarian Demining of Brazil in Colombia also participated in the activity, as well as the Technical Advisor on Explosives of the AICMA-OAS Program.
The objective of the visit was to increase the knowledge of the inter-American delegation regarding the improvised explosive devices found in Colombia and to learn about the capabilities of the country's Police in response, investigations and training regarding this threat. For the Head of the GMI-CO, Captain (Brazilian Marine) Leonel Mariano da Silva Júnior, “it was possible to learn about the great efforts and laudable capacity of the Colombian National Police in the fight against terrorism, allowing the delegation to relate its capabilities with those of other organizations, military or civil, that act against antipersonnel mines or improvised explosive devices in the country."
Six Brazilian officers (two from the Navy and four from the Army) and one from the Mexican Army made up the inter-American delegation for the visit. Since 2006, the GMI-CO has supported the efforts of the OAS and Colombian authorities to reduce the effects of antipersonnel mines and improvised explosive devices, which have penalized the country's population for six decades.
