Petro orders increased protection for Colombia’s opposition leaders – Colombia News

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro condemned an assassination attempt against opposition Senator Miguel Uribe and ordered to boost the protection of all leaders of the opposition.

In a televised address to the nation, Petro called the attempted assassination of the Senate chief of the far-right Democratic Center party “an act mourned by democracy.”

The president confirmed that Police arrested the alleged shooter and that this “sicario” was a minor and that the authorities were investigating who could be the mastermind behind the attempted assassination of a presidential hopeful.

Working as a team among all intelligence agencies, they must now concentrate on finding out who the mastermind killer is.

President Gustavo Petro

Petro said that he had ordered an investigation into Uribe’s security detail and “find the failures that occurred, because whenever an assassin can act against a protected person, there is always a prior security breach.”

It is a clear failure of the Government, of the State, of the nation as a whole, every time a son of the motherland is shot dead or is shot, it is Colombian society as a whole that is defeated.

President Gustavo Petro

According to the president, Uribe’s appearance in Bogota had not been announced to the public, which would make it impossible for potential assassins to prepare an attack.

Petro said that he had ordered increased security for all opposition politicians.

“The duty of the State is to take care of the members of the Colombian opposition like mothers, because if they do not have freedom and life, Colombia will not have freedom and life either,” said the president.

Petro rejected attempts to use the assassination attempt for political gain.

“They seem disgusting, as of crooks, as of sewer rats. We cannot talk. We all have our suspicions. I have mine. The patterns of crime repeat the patterns of death of most of Colombia’s political leaders,” said the president.

Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez reiterated late on Saturday that his office offered a $728 thousand (COP3 billion) reward for information that would allow the identification and arrest of those behind the attempted assassination of Uribe.