Colombian authorities blame FARC, ELN for attack on President Duque's helicopter

On Friday 25 June, Colombian President Iván Duque was travelling in a Colombian Air Force helicopter from Sardinata, a municipality in the department of Norte de Santander, to Cúcuta, the capital of the same department, on the border with Venezuela, when the Black Hawk helicopter was attacked from the air; As one of the crew members narrated, the rifle blasts were felt as undetermined "strange sounds" and it was only when everything had passed, once the aircraft had touched down, that Iván Duque, the Minister of Defence, Diego Molano, and the Minister of the Interior, Daniel Palacios, as well as the Governor of Norte de Santander, Silvano Serrano, and the Mayor of Cúcuta, Jairo Yáñez, who had accompanied him on the visit to Sardinata, escaped unharmed from the attack on the helicopter.

The area where the Colombian leader was passing through is known as the Catatumbo region, more than 10,000 square kilometres of thick jungle and rural communities that for decades have been at the mercy of Colombian guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug traffickers. But in recent years, Venezuelan criminal gangs have begun to operate, fighting over the territory for drug trafficking.

In the same city, last week before the incident there was a car bomb attack on the army's 30th Brigade that left 36 soldiers wounded. The base has a US military presence. And although the government points to members of the urban war front of the National Liberation Army (ELN), under the orders of Antonio García, members of the Central Command of that armed group, the authorities do not rule out other criminal organisations. 

The police also reported the discovery of two rifles in the La Conquista neighbourhood, from where the shots were fired at the presidential aircraft. They are an AK-47 and a 7-62 with Venezuelan Armed Forces markings, five suppliers and 20 cartridge cases, according to information presented by the director of the National Police, General Jorge Luis Vargas. 

While the entities investigating the attack against the aircraft in which the president of Colombia, Iván Duque, was travelling, point to an alliance between Robinson Navarro Flores, alias 'Alfred', a member of the Northeastern war front of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and Carlos Eduardo García Téllez, alias 'Andrey', second leader of the 33rd front of the dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and some criminal gangs as the possible cause of the attack. Although the authorities do not hold the armed groups directly responsible, they mention the suspicion of two physical perpetrators of the attack, whose sketches have been distributed by the police. 

"Information has been received about a possible criminal drug trafficking alliance between the ELN urban front and the FARC dissidents Grupo Residual Organizado Frente 33 with drug trafficking and criminal organisations that are active in Norte de Santander and have a presence in Venezuela", said the Minister of Defence, Diego Molano, during a press conference, explaining that this initial information is based on testimonies gathered in the area and that the investigation is still underway.

It is suspected that the individuals pictured used the aforementioned AK-47 and the 7-62 rifle to fire at the helicopter, according to reports provided by the police and published by the newspaper El espectador. In addition, the police maintain that the investigations carried out so far indicate that "there is a ballistic coincidence" between the bullet casings found and the 7.62 calibre FAL rifle, of Belgian manufacture and assembled in Venezuela, and the AK-47 rifle seized last Saturday in the La Conquista neighbourhood, 1.2 kilometres from Cúcuta airport, from where the shots were allegedly fired.

The ELN, which has carried out similar attacks on Colombian military bases, denied in a communiqué broadcast on several of its channels that it was linked to this attack and has yet to comment on the attack on the presidential helicopter.

Colombia's defence minister, Diego Molano, has warned that the ELN and FARC are seeking to infiltrate and generate violence and vandalism in the anti-government protests called for 20 July in the capital, Bogotá, and Cali.

The protests seek to support the discussion of the list of demands in the Colombian Congress. The demands, which include a basic income for ten million people, among other things, have not been able to be discussed with the government in the framework of the round of dialogues initiated to address the situation.

Latin America Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.