Shooting attack against guards of a senator in Colombia: two dead

The Minister of the Interior, Armando Benedetti, contacted the senator and said that “he is fine, but deeply moved, crying for the death of his bodyguards and the attacks that were carried out against the truck and part of its escort.”

In Arauca (east), where the attack occurred, the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla has a strong presence, but the authorities have not yet ruled on the perpetrators of the attack.

The truck, which featured about 50 bullet holes from both short and long weapons, it ended up with shattered windows, punctured tires and visible damage to the body and structure, leaving it diverted to the side of the road.

Benedetti also reported that another van from the security scheme of Castellanos, who is campaigning to be re-elected senator, disappeared during the attack. The whereabouts of its four members are also unknown, including an assistant to the senator, an engineer and the driver.

The authorities are carrying out operations in the area to clarify what happened, and establish who would be behind the attack. To date, no official statement has been issued with complete details about the incident.

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petrocontacted Castellanos to express his “solidarity for the attack of which his security scheme was a victim and where two of his bodyguards who were traveling between Fortul and Tame in Arauca died.”

The Colombian president added: “I have ordered the Minister of Defense and the authorities to carry out the pertinent investigations to find the whereabouts of another of the vehicles that also carried 4 members of his work team who were traveling in a white Volkswagen Amarok with THZ-973 plates and capture those responsible for this fact.”

In addition, he guaranteed the senator “all support in terms of security to protect the life of the congressman and his work team.”

On the other hand, the Colombian Ministry of Defense offered 200 million pesos (about 55 thousand dollars) for information that allows the identification and capture of those responsible for the armed attack.

More than 300 municipalities in Colombia, almost a third of the national territory, are at risk of electoral violence for the 2026 elections amid the escalation of the armed conflict, as reported by the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE). This year, the country will elect new congressmen and the successor of President Gustavo Petro, in elections marked by violent pressure from illegal armed groups, mainly in rural areas.

A report from this civil organization assures that 126 municipalities are under “extreme risk” of electoral violence, while another 49 have alerts of possible fraud for the legislative elections on March 8.

The report emphasizes the threats against “peace seats” in Congress. These are the 16 special seats in the Chamber of Deputies – known there as the Chamber of Representatives – that were invented with the 2016 Peace Agreement so that the people of the areas most affected by the war – where the State did not reach – have their own voice in Congress.

Of the 126 municipalities that will elect these special representatives, 75 are under “maximum alert.”

It is an “exponential” increase in violence compared to the 2022 elections that could reach “the same levels they had prior to the peace signing.

Most of these territories are under the control of guerrillas and other drug groups such as Colombia’s main cartel, the Clan del Golfo.