Joint Task Force OMEGA

Joint Task Force OMEGA (Spanish: Fuerza de tarea conjunta OMEGA) is a joint task force involving the Military of Colombia in support of Plan Patriota (Now replaced by Plan Consolidación) assembled with the main purpose of capturing the leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Joint Task Force OMEGA was named after omega Greek letter meaning "the end" in allusion to the possible end of the armed conflict

Mission

Its purpose is to conduct military operations, planning, developing and implementing assault operations, surveillance, interdiction, security and support, combating and neutralizing the narco-terrorist organizations, with an emphasis on neutralizing their leaders, their logistics infrastructure, economic base, and precipitate the military defeat of their armed paramilitaries.

Organization

The JTF OMEGA was formed by the best 15,000 soldiers in the military of Colombia selected from the Army, Air Force and Navy. The task force headquarters is located in the Military Fort Larandia in the Department of Caqueta.

Field units

Field units of the Task Force consist of eight brigades as follows:

Apart from the land component, the JTF has a river component located in Tres Esquinas, Department of Caqueta, and an aviation component in the bases of Larandia and Apiay.[1]

Operations

Operations left 137 members of the Colombian military killed in action and 1,300 wounded. After the end of Plan Patriota, The Joint Task Force OMEGA was renamed to OMEGA Campaign on December 10, 2006 to support the Plan Consolidación.[2]

Commanders
  • General Reinaldo Castellanos (????-2004) [3]
  • General Carlos Alberto Fracica (2004-2005) [4][5]
  • General Gilberto Rocha (2005-2006)[6]
  • General Alejandro Navas (2006-2008)[7]
  • General Javier Alberto Florez Aristizabal (2008–present)[8]

Guerrilla infiltration scandal

During an operation on July 15, 2007 in the jungles of Colombia by the Colombian National Army soldiers pertaining to the 17th Counter-Guerrilla Battalion 2nd Mobile Brigade, localized a FARC campsite in the village of Montañitas, in the municipality of Mesetas, Meta Department and after a confrontation with members of FARC's 42nd Front, soldiers found on the body of one the guerrillas named José Nerup Reyes Peña and presumed leader of that front, hard discs and USB drives containing information about members of the FARC guerrilla infiltration in the JTF OMEGA. The hard drive contained detailed maps outlining anti-guerrilla operations by Omega.[9][10]

References
  1. (in Spanish) Fuerza de Tarea Conjunta OMEGA
  2. (in Spanish) eltiempo.com:Derrota total de las Farc es el objetivo de la nueva fase de operaciones militares en el sur de país Archived 2007-01-23 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Uribe cambia jefe militar para derrotar a insurgentes" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
  4. (in Spanish) Mindefensa anuncia nueva línea de mando de las Fuerzas Militares
  5. (in Spanish) Salió El General Fracica
  6. (in Spanish) PRESIDENTE URIBE RATIFICA CÚPULA MILITAR
  7. (in Spanish) Relevo en el comando de la Fuerza de Tarea Conjunta Omega
  8. (in Spanish) Comandante General de las Fuerzas Militares anunció nueva línea de mando en el Ejército Nacional
  9. Washington Post: Traffickers Infiltrate Military in Colombia
  10. "Revista Semana: Infiltrado el corazón de las Fuerzas Militares" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
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