Colombia’s protection chief investigated over failures to protect shot senator – Colombia News

Colombia’s Inspector General’s Office opened an investigation into the director of the National Protection Unit (UNP) in response to the attempted assassination of Senator Miguel Uribe.

According to the Inspector General’s Office, UNP director Augusto Rodriguez’s alleged failures may make him culpable for the assassination attempt that has left the senator in a critical condition since Saturday.

Uribe’s attorney, Victor Mosquera, filed criminal charges against Rodriguez amid renewed concerns over the UNP’s persistent failure to effectively protect threatened politicians and activists.

Colombia’s democracy under attack, again

What happened to Uribe’s security detail?

President Gustavo Petro said Monday that Uribe’s security detail, which normally consists of seven bodyguards, “was strangely reduced” to three “on the day of the attack” in Bogota’s Fontibon district.

In a response, Rodriguez explained that this reduction was due to the fact that four policemen were given Saturday off after a long day of campaigning on Friday.

Usually, Uribe is protected by three UNP bodyguards and four policemen.

The lawsuit against Rodriguez

According to the senator’s lawyer, Saturday’s deficient protection can be blamed on the UNP’s consistent failure to respond to requests for increased protection.

“During 2025 we filed more than 23 requests” for additional protection, Mosquera told press at the Santa Fe clinic where Uribe has been fighting for his life.

They simply responded with a “copy paste” of the same thing they had said since January 2025. They said that he did not represent a risk and did not even authorize the movements of his team of bodyguards.

Victor Mosquera

According to the lawyer, the UNP failed to make any changes to the senator’s security detail after Uribe announced that he would be campaigning to become his far-right Democratic Center party’s candidate in the 2026 presidential election.

Long time coming

The most recent criticism on the UNP comes after a years-long crisis caused by corruption in the agency.

Rodriguez, an ally of Petro, survived an assassination attempt in early 2023 after he vowed to root out corruption in the UNP.

At the time, authorities were investigating the agency’s former deputy director, Ronald Rodriguez, for allegedly coordinating a drug trafficking ring inside the UNP.

Colombia’s former deputy protection chief arrested over alleged mafia ties

Before that, the agency was being accused of renting out services to Colombia’s rich and famous instead of people who actually needed protection in the face of death threats.

Since 2016, more than 1,600 social leaders have been assassinated, in part because of the UNP’s persistent failures to provide timely and adequate protection.