Colombian Senator's Convoy Attacked, President Alleges Kidnapping Attempt by Rebels

(Bogota, May 19, CNA/AFP) Colombia's leftist President Gustavo Petro stated that the convoy of ruling party senator Alexander Lopez was fired upon today on a highway in the southwest by rebels from the now-disbanded guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in an attempt to kidnap Lopez. Agence France-Presse reports that Colombia is facing its worst wave of violence since signing a peace deal with FARC in 2016, with frequent attacks, murders, and kidnappings ahead of the presidential election on the 31st of this month. Due to heightened security, Lopez was riding in a lead car, while his usual vehicle, traveling behind, was shot at. President Gustavo Petro stated the attack occurred in the Cauca province, just '1 kilometer' from the site of a bomb attack in late April that killed 21 civilians. 'Senator Lopez's armored car was riddled with bullets by the narco-trafficking armed group led by Ivan Mordisco,' Petro posted on the social media platform X, adding that a local mayor's vehicle was also attacked. 'They just tried to kidnap the senator,' Petro told a crowd at a public event in the capital, Bogota. It is currently unclear if anyone was injured or if security forces engaged in a firefight. 'They fired with rifles,' Lopez told a news channel after the incident. 'After my vehicle was shot and stopped, they broke into it and asked the driver, 'Where is your boss?'' Lopez said the assailants drove away his car, holding a bodyguard hostage for about five minutes. The Cauca province has large areas of drug cultivation and is a major stronghold for the FARC faction under Mordisco, who is Colombia's most-wanted man and rejected the peace deal.