They attacked the helicopter where President Iván Duque was located – Télam

The helicopter in which the President of Colombia, Ivn Duque, and the Chief of Defense, Diego Molano, were traveling was attacked by bullets, although there were no injuries, a fact that the president denounced as a “cowardly attack”.

Also in the helicopter, which received between three and six shots, according to main Colombian media, were Interior Minister Daniel Palacios and Norte de Santander Governor Silvano Serrano.

The ship had left the municipality of Sardinata and was about to land in Ccuta, in the department of Norte de Santander.

According to official information, the bullets were coming from areas near the airport and Duque explained that “the device and the capacity of the plane prevented something deadly from happening”.

“The truth is it was a loose attack, where you see bullet holes. As a government, we are not going to weaken for a single minute, a single day, in our fight against drug trafficking and the criminal groups that operate ”in the territory, noted the Head of State.

Shortly after the first information about the attack broke, Duque recorded a brief statement in which he insisted that his government “does not intimidate itself with violence or terrorism”.

“The state is strong, Colombia is strong. The state is everywhere, ”said Duque, who said he had given“ very clear instructions to go after those who shot ”the helicopter.

The craft in which Duque and Ministers Molano and Palacios were traveling is an armored Black Hawk and, despite the attack, succeeded in a normal landing.

“As a government, we are not going to falter for a single minute, a single day, in our fight against drug trafficking and the criminal groups that operate.”“

Ivn Duque

The site of the newspaper El Tiempo noted that at that time a “padlock” operation was deployed in the Camilo Daza district of Ccuta, where the shots apparently came from.

Operations at the terminal were immediately suspended.

The attack zone

Duque and his companions were returning from Sardinata, where between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. (9 a.m. and 1 p.m. in Argentina) there was a meeting with the regional authorities to explain the investments made in the Catatumbo region.

Ccuta is the political, economic, industrial and cultural center of the department, it is on the border with Venezuela and is the seat of regional powers.

In the middle of the month, a car bomb exploded in the 30th Army Brigade, in the township of San Jorge de Ccuta, with a toll of 36 injured, a fact that the government also attributed to a terrorist attack, but that ‘no organization has been assigned.

At the moment, several soldiers are under investigation and the officers in charge of the security of the barracks have already been demobilized.

This military brigade is considered key because it is usually the headquarters for the installation of US military advisers who work with Colombian soldiers deployed in the border area with Venezuela, where there are active guerrilla groups, paramilitaries and military personnel. drug cartels.

El Nuevo Siglo newspaper detailed that, according to official sources, “21 different forms of crime have been identified in the region, from drug trafficking and guerrilla dissidents to groups dedicated to trafficking in women and mining. illegal “.

In Sardinata, Duque was with a total of seven ministers to explain the details of the “Sustainable Catatumbo” investment plan.

Vice-President and Chancellor Marta Luca Ramrez was among the first to express her solidarity with Duque, on her Twitter: “May God save Colombia and the President. Terrorists and drug trafficking will never be able to intimidate those 49 million 900,000 honest Colombians who are working for a future of progress and fairness for all of Colombia ”.

National Polo Democrrtico Senator Wilson Arias, meanwhile, wondered “what the country gains when criminals attack Duque”.

“Absolutely nothing, but he wins in pity and in his fascist speech. The right is won at the ballot box and with arguments; my rejection of the macabre strategy of resorting to violence, wherever it comes from, ”he completed his message.

Finally, the boss of Human Rights Watch, Jos Miguel Vivanco, “categorically condemned the attack” on the helicopter.

Since the end of April, Colombia has been going through a situation of social and political crisis, now partially contained, after nearly two months of national strike and permanent mobilizations, with roadblocks and motorways, initially triggered by a regressive tax reform project.

Although the government has withdrawn from this initiative, the National Unemployment Commission has drawn up a list of various other social and political demands, including the need to guarantee peaceful demonstrations against the repression of the police force, also questioned by the ‘OEA, IACHR, EU. and the UN.