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Rabat – Unknown assailants attacked Colombia’s President Ivan Duque’s presidential helicopter on Friday. The helicopter was transporting Columbia’s president along with Defense Minister Diego Molano, Interior Minister Daniel Palacios, and governor of Norte de Santander state Silvano Serrano.
Upon landing, the Columbian president addressed the “cowardly attack” stating, “I want to inform the country that after fulfilling a commitment in Sardinata in Catatumbo, approaching the city of Cucuta, the presidential helicopter was the victim of an attack.”
The president noted that the region is infested with drug traffickers and reiterated Columbia’s no-nonsense attitude towards drug trafficking in the country.
“The message is that Colombia is always strong in the face of crime and our institutions are above any threat,” the president said.
A government spokesperson confirmed that there were no injuries in the attack. Official images revealed bullet holes on the helicopter’s propeller and tail-end.
In the president’s statement following the attack, Duque lauded the durability of the helicopter’s equipment, stating that it “prevented something lethal from happening.”
Columbia’s Catatumbo region, which has been the home of drug-related violence since January 2018, hosts National Liberation Army (ELN) fighters, former FARC fighters, and other small militant outfits that profit off the illicit drug trade.
In what many refer to as the Catatumbo Campaign, the region has been a hotspot for the war on drugs due to its coca plant abundance. The plant is necessary for manufacturing cocaine.
Columbia is considered the world’s largest exporter of cocaine.
In February 2021, President Duque launched CONAT, Columbia’s new anti-drug task force to combat coca plant grow operations and the growing number of armed militias that seek to export the illegal substance.
