Colombia is in the spotlight of the world press after a senator was kidnapped and released after several hours of detention, and President Gustavo Petro said he had avoided a new assassination attempt, BTA writes.
Kidnapped yesterday in her constituency in the Cauca department, Aida Kilque was released in the evening and is alive and well, the French newspaper “Figaro“ reported, citing Colombian Defense Minister Gen. Pedro Sanchez.
The indigenous senator was kidnapped in an area in southwestern Colombia, where armed groups are active, amid an increase in political violence in the midst of the election period. The region is known for its coca production and is controlled by separatists from the former FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).
“I hope this will be resolved quickly (...), because otherwise a red line will be crossed”, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said earlier that evening during a meeting of the Council of Ministers.
The indigenous Nasa people, to which leftist Senator Kilque belongs, are regularly threatened by armed groups in this region, the French newspaper noted.
“I expected the worst”, said Aida Kilque through tears, next to her daughter and under the protection of members of the national police and the Guardia Indigenosa (the Indigenous Guard, which serves as the civilian police on the reserves - ed. note), reports the Spanish newspaper “Pais“. The senator was kidnapped along with her bodyguards, Álvaro Troches and Ovidio Pontón, in the Totoro region, in the eastern part of the Cauca department.
Kilque revealed that her team was intercepted by armed men who then took them to a wooded area where they "waited for orders". After several hours and after civil and government mechanisms were activated to find her, the men fled. She was later found by indigenous guards.
“Cauca deserves more attention”, the senator stressed at a press conference she held in the evening in Popayan, the capital of the department where she was transferred. The leader of the Cauca Regional Indian Council (RISC) expressed gratitude for the rapid response and public pressure, which she said played a key role in saving her life. She expressed special thanks "to the Guardia Indigenia, because they are the people who always come to save lives, not just mine. I also thank the national government's law enforcement, we know that helped," she said.
After the Nasa tribal leader's team reported losing contact with her, the sound of military helicopters began to grow louder in the mountains near the town of Insa. Meanwhile, on the ground, dozens of members of the Guardia Indigenia, the RISK-affiliated organization that serves as the reserve's civilian police, quickly organized themselves to block roads and neighboring areas. Within minutes, several checkpoints were set up to identify any suspicious vehicles, especially after Kilque's empty pickup truck was found.
Others set off on motorcycles to monitor more distant points, looking for a possible vehicle carrying the senator.
One of the first to speak to the senator was the mayor of Insa, Delio Trujillo, who confirmed that she had been kidnapped and reported that she was in good condition. Although the leader claims that her captors did not identify themselves, locals believe that those responsible are obvious, the Spanish publication emphasizes.
The indigenous Nasa people, to which Aida Kilque belongs, are regularly threatened by armed groups in this region, emphasizes the French newspaper “West France“. The FARC separatists – The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which signed a peace agreement with the state in 2016, are among the main suspects, according to the government.
Aida Quilque belongs to the “Historical Pact” movement, which in 2022 brought leftist President Gustavo Petro to power for the first time. In October of that year, in the midst of the election campaign, she revealed to the Senate that she had been the victim of an assassination attempt.
She defends the rights of indigenous people. In 2021, she won the National Prize for the Defense of Human Rights. Colombia is one of the countries where the most human rights and environmental defenders are killed.
Hundreds of cities in Colombia are at risk of election violence and pressure from armed groups seeking to influence the 2026 parliamentary and presidential elections, organizations such as the Electoral Observation Mission have warned. Last Thursday, gunmen killed two of a senator's bodyguards in an attack in the Arauca region, where armed groups are active.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said yesterday that he had survived an assassination attempt on Monday while traveling by helicopter. In a televised meeting of the Council of Ministers, he explained that the helicopter he was traveling in could not land as planned in the Cordoba region, on Colombia's Caribbean coast, because his security guards feared that the helicopter would be fired upon.
“We flew for four hours and arrived at a place that was not planned, running away so that they wouldn't kill me“, he explained.
The leftist president, in power since 2022, has claimed for months that “a new drug trafficking junta“ is trying to take his life. The alleged plot involves drug traffickers living abroad and local leaders of armed groups, such as Ivan Mordisco, the country's most wanted criminal who leads the FARC rebels.
The “Gulf Clan“, the country's largest drug cartel, is based in Cordoba, and announced last week that it was suspending peace talks in Qatar. This was in response to the joint statement by Petro and his American counterpart Donald Trump that they would prioritize military action against three leaders of criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, including Chiquito Malo, the head of the “Gulf Clan“, West France recalls.