A drone loaded with explosives was found five kilometers from Bogota’s airport in Colombia, which also houses a military air base on Wednesday. This discovery comes in a tense climate as the presidential election approaches, scheduled for May 31.
A drone loaded with explosives was found on Wednesday, May 6 near the international airport of Bogota, which also hosts military installations, a Colombian army official said on Friday.
The device was found five kilometers from the Catam military air base, adjacent to the El Dorado international airport, in a context of pressure from armed groups in Colombia as the presidential election on May 31 approaches.
Violent clashes in the southwest of the country
Drones are commonly used by guerrillas, mainly those of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissidents from the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to attack military bases or police posts.
“The clues (of the drone’s presence) came from the Cauca prosecution”, from the southwest department of the country where the army and Colombian guerrillas are engaged in violent clashes, an army official told AFP.
This region has vast areas of illicit coca crops – the main ingredient of cocaine of which Colombia is the world’s largest producer – and is the bastion of the EMC dissidence, under the command of Ivan Modrisco, the country’s most wanted criminal who turned his back on the historic peace agreement of 2016 with the FARC.
A bomb attack at the end of April
The EMC acknowledged its responsibility in the bomb attack on April 25 that killed 21 civilians but pleaded “mistake”, saying it intended to target the army that is chasing its fighters.
Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president who will leave office on August 7, had initiated a process of “total peace” with the various armed groups operating in Colombia but did not reach an agreement with any of them.
Ivan Cepeda, the favorite in the polls and from the same party as Gustavo Petro, stated that if he wins, he will seek to end 60 years of internal conflict through dialogue, amid drug trafficking that finances guerrillas and cartels.
The right-wing candidates competing for a spot in the second round, Abelardo de la Espriella and Paloma Valencia, reject the principle of dialogue with armed groups and promise to confront them head-on.
