FUDRA - Rapid Deployment Force
(Fuerza de Despliegue Rapido)

On December 7, 1999, President Andres Pastrana activated FUDRA, or the Rapid Deployment Force. The Colombian military believes the force to be a symbol of its modernization. It is comprised of 3 mobile brigades and 1 special forces brigade and, in addition to possessing Black Hawk helicopters, recieves support from the Colombian Air Force (FAC). FUDRA is a rapid-reaction force tasked with conducting counterinsurgency operations throughout the country. Its motto is "any mission, any place, any time, in the best way, ready for victory."

The history of the Army was marked in 1998. The FARC kidnapped more than 400 soldiers and policemen and about 70 stations and battalions were attacked. The moral, physical, and logistical support situation was precarious. For many analysts, the war was being lost and half of the country was in the hands of the guerrillas. It was then that the idea of ??creating a unit that would give mobility and professionalism to the Army emerged as a lifeline. On December 7, 1999, then-President Andrés Pastrana gave free rein to what would become known as the Rapid Deployment Force, Fudra, "the war machine of the Colombian Army." And the following year it began to operate.

Since that date, this unit, which is the elite group, began a long way to break the military and strategic power that the FARC had achieved. With 5,000 men from mobile brigades 1, 2 and 3, a brigade of Special Forces and Army Aviation, the first year he set out to train the soldiers so that they could circumvent any operation in the paramo, the plains, the jungle and the desert.

Its premiere was in Sumapaz, against the Eastern bloc. But the operation that really gave an idea of ??the capacity of the new unit was 'Gato Negro' (February 2001), against Front 16, in the jungles of Guainía. This three-month military campaign allowed the capture of Brazil's most wanted drug lord: Fernandinho Beira-Mar. Months later, the operation '7 de Agosto' would come and the first strong blow to the structures of 'Jojoy': the death of 'Urias Cuéllar'. Then, in February 2002, the resumption of the demilitarized zone with operation 'TH' would set the tone and the strategy.

By 2004, when the Fudra was the basis of the JM military campaign, with the Plan Patriota, the soldiers had already achieved extensive experience. The 5 thousand men entered the jungles of Caguán and from that moment began a relentless persecution against the 'Mono Jojoy'. Given the magnitude of the operations, in 2007 they added mobile brigades 7 and 10. And operations 'Arturo' and 'Sodoma' would arrive at dawn on September 22 with the fall of 'Jojoy'.

Rapid Deployment Force No. 3 was created by Resolution No.8871 of December 04, 2017 of the General Command of the Military Forces (activation anddeployment of Rapid Deployment Force N ° 3), which will begin the development of operationsmilitary and occupation of the assigned area as of November 5, 2018, initiallyon the municipalities of Convencion, Teorama, Tarra, Hacarí, San Calixto, “General AreaCatatumbo”.

“A well-trained, mystical, capable force has arrived; some soldiers with a vocation, with a love for Colombia that does not fit in their chest. At the same time, respectful of human rights and international humanitarian law, who come to fight for this land ”, said General Mejía, Commander of the Armed Forces, in Norte de Santander, October 28, 2018. "This Rapid Deployment Force Number 3 came to stay in Catatumbo," said General Alberto José Mejía Ferrero, Commander of the Colombian Military Forces, during the activation of the unit in Ocaña, Norte de Santander.

This strategic model "is the recognition of the President of the Republic, Iván Duque, that this area is vital for Colombia and that this area must regain security," said General Mejía, who accompanied the President at the ceremony. He said that Rapid Deployment Force No. 3 is a "trained, mystical, capable" unit, which will be made up of a little more than 5,000 men who will consolidate the security of the Catatumbo provinces, plagued by the confrontation of illegal groups. “A Force has arrived with soldiers with a vocation, with a love for Colombia that does not fit in their chest. At the same time, respectful of human rights and international humanitarian law, who come to fight for this land, "he said.

“It is important that these groups understand that it is preferable not to engage this fighting force. This force has the best training in the world, "he said. With this campaign "what we all want is to rebuild this land, break the backbone of drug trafficking in Catatumbo, and we are going to achieve it together," the Commander of the Armed Forces stressed. "A people united with its Military Forces, united with its Government and with the rest of the State, is capable, through synergy, of unified action, of breaking with all these threats," he said.

On 30 October 2019, at the conclusion of the Security Council held in northern Cauca after the murder of 5 indigenous people from the Tacueyó reservation, President Iván Duque Márquez announced that in a period of 40 days, the Force of Police must begin operations in the department. Rapid Deployment number 4 (Fudra 4), a unit that will be made up of 2,500 soldiers. The Head of State assured that Fudra 4 will have three compelling objectives, among which he highlighted the dismantling of criminal groups linked to drug trafficking that seek to intimidate the populations of that region of the country.

"The Rapid Deployment Force number 4 will bring 2,500 more members of the Public Force, to fulfill the three purposes: territorial control, close the drug trafficking routes used by these organizations and dismantle those organizations," said the President in a statement to the media. journalists, accompanied by the leadership of the Military Forces and the Police. He explained that Fudra number 4 is going to operate "hand in hand with the Atalanta structure, in which all forces also participate and where there is a great input of intelligence and offensive capacity from our National Police."

When announcing the strengthening of the Public Force in Cauca, the Head of State condemned the act of violence on Tuesday in which the five indigenous people died, including the Governor of the Tacueyó reservation, Cristina Bautista. “Here is the State united to reject those execrable acts of yesterday, acts of bloody violence against members of our indigenous communities. Clearly, the murderers and those responsible for this crime are drug trafficking structures, dissidents, residuals, that what they have wanted is to maintain the drug trafficking business and seek with weapons to silence the expressions of the communities and intimidate the indigenous communities, "he said. President Duque.

The President, when naming the criminal structures 'Jaime Martínez' and 'Dagoberto Ramos', pointed to them as those responsible for drug trafficking and violent acts against social leaders in northern Cauca “Here it has been said, by the Prosecutor's Office, how progress is being made in the clarification of many of these crimes and, clearly, they have a link with those drug trafficking structures that have wanted to threaten social leaders, members of indigenous communities and candidates ", stressed the Head of State, who assured that these criminal groups also try" to capture territorial power." Finally, he emphasized that in the face of this threat from the violent, the State is united "to confront them and tell them that they are not going to achieve it."