Gustavo Petro has been warning for months about an alleged plot by drug traffickers targeting him.
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After months of warnings about an alleged plot by drug traffickers against him, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that he had survived an assassination attempt while on a helicopter trip with his daughters.
Mr Petro said on Tuesday that a helicopter had been unable to land at a destination on Colombia’s Caribbean coast the previous day because of fears that unspecified people would “open fire”.
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“Last night I was informed that the helicopter I was riding with my daughters was going to be shot at, so we were unable to land,” Petro said in a report on public radio National Radio.
“They didn’t even turn on the lights where I was supposed to land,” he said.
Prime Minister Petro told a council of ministers meeting in the province of Córdoba, a region in the country’s north where heavy rains and flooding have created a humanitarian emergency, saying the threat to safety had forced him to make major changes to his travel plans.
“I’m trying to escape being killed. That’s why I couldn’t arrive on time last night. I couldn’t land where I said I would. This morning, I couldn’t land where I was supposed to because I had information that the helicopter was going to be shot at,” he said.
Translation: @petrogustavo President reports new assassination attempt against him.
Petro said his helicopter arrived at another landing site with support from the Colombian Navy and headed out into the open sea for several hours until safety plans and travel routes were changed.
“The head of state asserted that these events have kept the president on constant alert and, according to the president, are linked to other actions that have taken place since October last year,” Radio Nacional Colombia reported.
Petro has previously claimed that drug-trafficking cartels have been targeting him since he took office in August 2022, with reports previously reporting that there was another suspected attempt on his life in 2024.
The reported assassination attempt comes amid a surge in violence and the kidnapping of a senator on Tuesday, months before a presidential election in which Petro is constitutionally barred from being re-elected for a second term.
Sen. Ida Kirk, an indigenous activist and human rights activist, was taken by unknown persons around noon in her hometown of Cauca, in the southwestern province of the city. Cauca is a contested coca-growing region largely controlled by rebels from the now-disbanded FARC rebel group.
Kirkue, 53, was kidnapped while traveling in an SUV with two bodyguards, said her daughter Alejandra Legarda.
Members of the Indigenous Guard later found the vehicle, but “no one was inside,” Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez told the X program.
According to reports, Petro warned the kidnappers to release Kirkyu or risk crossing a “red line”. Shortly after, the defense minister said the senator and his bodyguard had been released and were safe.
Images of the freed senators were widely shared on Colombian military social media accounts.
Translation: Our commander, Brigadier General Javier Africano, along with @PoliciaColombia @GobCauca and @FiscaliaCol, welcomes Sen. Ida Kirke to the facilities of #TeceraDivisión after ensuring her return and safety. East of #Cauca, operations continue due to the capabilities of our soldiers.
Last week, gunmen attacked the senator’s motorcade in Colombia’s Arauca region, near Venezuela, killing two of his bodyguards. He was not in the car at the time.
Last week, the Colombian Observatory said more than 300 municipalities, representing a third of the country, were at risk of electoral violence as parliamentary elections on March 8 and presidential elections on May 31 approach.
