Colombian Capitan Is Involved in Attack on Duque, Car Bombing

On Thursday, Colombian outlets revealed that a retired army Capitan was involved in the attack against President Ivan Duque's helicopter and the detonation of a car bomb at the 30th Army Brigade in Cucuta.

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Initially, the media did not reveal the identity of the intellectual author of these acts "so as not to hinder investigations." Nevertheless, shortly after the information was leaked, Attorney General Francisco Barbosa said the suspect is Andres Medina, a helicopter pilot who retired in 2016.

The attack against the 30th Army Brigade occurred on June 15 and led to the arrest of ten former guerrillas. From the beginning, Colombians suspected the official explanations because of the difficulties a car bomb would have had to pass through security controls without being detected.

Ten days after the attack on the military garrison, the helicopter carrying President Duque, two ministers, and other subnational officials was shot six times from the ground. This happened when the aircraft was approaching Cucuta city, which is close to the Venezuelan border.

Taking advantage of this circumstance, the Colombian mainstream media rushed to blame Venezuela for what happened. This smear campaign continues. On Thursday, Colombia's Defense Minister Diego Molano assured the attacks against Duque and the 30th Army Brigade were planned from Venezuela and asked "the international community to reflect on how the government of Nicolas Maduro continues to harbor terrorists."

Prosecutor Barbosa blamed former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for being linked to Venezuela and the attacks. So far, however, none of the authorities have explained what motives the former Colombian pilot had for planning the two attacks. Nor are there official explanations regarding how Medina became linked to the guerrilla dissidents.

In response to the unfounded accusations, Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza stressed that the Duque administration continues trying to blame the Bolivarian government for what is happening in Colombia.

"Once again, they use Venezuela to try to hide the tragedy of their country, a country full of violence and armed groups. A country whose economy and political class are based on drug trafficking," Arreaza said.

He also recalled that Colombia is a country where there is "a repressive police, massacres, and daily assassinations of social leaders." As could be seen in the murder of Jovenel Moise in Haiti, "it is exporting mercenaries" who participate in assassinations of presidents abroad.