Colombia’s president says he escaped assassination attempt while in helicopter

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Tuesday he had escaped an assassination attempt hours earlier, after months of warnings about an alleged plot by drug traffickers to target him.

On Monday night, Petro’s helicopter was unable to land at his destination on the Caribbean coast because of fears that unspecified people “were going to shoot” at it, he said.

“We headed out to open sea for four hours and I arrived somewhere we weren’t supposed to go, escaping from being killed,” Petro said in a cabinet meeting that was broadcast live.

Petro’s claim came amid a surge in violence months ahead of presidential elections, in a country marred by decades of conflict between guerrilla and other armed groups.

Petro, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a second term, has claimed that a drug-trafficking cabal has had its sights set on ending his life ever since assuming office in August 2022.

The alleged plot involves narco bosses and warlords such as Ivan Mordisco, who commands the largest group of dissidents who broke with the Farc guerrilla army after it agreed to disarm under a 2016 peace agreement.