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Campamento rural cercado en el piedemonte amazónico colombiano al anochecer, con un vehículo llegando por un camino de tierra
Un campamento de ubicación temporal en zona rural del Putumayo. Imagen generada.

Putumayo camp: parties, minors and unaccounted peace funds

An official report dated October 15 documented, at the Temporary Location Zone in Valle del Guamuez, Putumayo, a party lasting several days with minors…

--- The context --- The Temporary Location Zone in Valle del Guamuez, in Putumayo, was created to gather members of the Border Commands while they moved toward civilian life, under the total peace negotiation promoted by former president Gustavo Petro. The site began operating on June 18, 2026 with 99 members, although the talks had mentioned 200 people. Only 50 remain today, according to the documents known. The government of President Abelardo De La Espriella placed the zone under scrutiny on arrival, requested an audit and ordered both the negotiating table and the zone itself to end. That official review produced the report that now documents, using records from the logistics operator, what happened during several days in October inside the camp. --- The facts --- An official report dated October 15, 2026, addressed to the Administrative Department of the Presidency, reconstructed a party lasting several days between October 10 and October 15. The document recorded the entry of minors without authorization, who were removed from the site with support from the ICBF, and the entry of contraband liquor, with more than twenty bottles documented inside the facilities. The same official report recorded unauthorized substances, a fight with injuries that required medical attention, and threats against the logistics staff who reported the alcohol trafficking. It also documented that one member visited a shaman, suspended his medication on that person recommendation, and days later took part in an episode recorded on video that the operator report describes as an exorcism. The accounts also came under examination. The investment in the zone was close to 13,000 million pesos, but the director of Dapre, Carlos Andres Rios, argued indirectly that the infrastructure is worth no more than 3,000 million pesos. In its general balance on total peace, the Comptroller Office noted that more than 443,000 million pesos left the Peace Fund, that contracts total 376,000 million pesos, and that almost 70,000 million pesos remain unjustified. --- The positions --- Rios requested an audit by the Comptroller Office and defended the government decision to end the zone, arguing indirectly that resources should go to social investment rather than sustain an uncontrolled site. The government ended the table through Resolution 346 of 2026, and another resolution on September 9 ordered the zone to end from September 30, although a court action suspended that order and the ruling of October 8 gave it six more months of life. The Rotorr corporation, the logistics operator of the zone, acknowledged the excesses through its acting executive director, Ana Maria Velazquez, who warned indirectly that staff worked at risk and under threats when they tried to stop liquor from entering. Velazquez defended the costs by noting that the compound was built in 25 days, in an area of difficult access, and that everything invested was documented before the fund that disbursed the money. --- What remains unknown --- It remains unknown what the full result of the audit requested by the government will be, how much of the investment can be recovered, and what will happen to the 50 people still at the zone when the judicial deadline expires. It is also unclear who will take over the logistics operation after the operator contract ends, or what protection measures minors and civilian staff will have in the remaining time. --- Unanswered questions --- What will the audit conclude about the difference between the 13,000 million pesos invested and the value that Dapre assigns to the infrastructure? Who will protect minors and logistics staff while the zone stays open by court order? What exit route will the 50 people who still remain in Valle del Guamuez have? Will the custody of the weapons handed over be publicly verified until a final decision on their destination is known? Will there be a periodic and public review of the zone accounts while the court measure keeping it open remains in force? --- EPM analysis --- The case brings together three failures at once: a negotiation that promised 200 people and gathered 99, a site with no custody by authorities where control fell to an overwhelmed civilian operator, and public spending whose justification the Comptroller Office already questions in its general balance on total peace. The intervention of the current government, with an audit and a termination order, put the file on the table, but the judicial decision that extended the zone left the underlying problem open: who answers for safety and for the money while the closure takes effect. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the immediate priority is not only to close the zone, but to protect minors, civilian staff and those who still remain inside, with verifiable controls every day and with a permanent institutional presence on site. The audit must establish, peso by peso, what was paid, what was built and who authorized each expense, because 70,000 million pesos left unjustified in the general balance admit no generic explanations or further delays. The government acted by requesting the review and ordering the end of the scheme; now the closure ordered through the courts must be carried out without new risks or new hidden costs for the country.
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