MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Dissident FARC group claims responsibility for attack against Colombian President Duque

The group has also claimed responsibility for four more actions

The June 25 attack against the helicopter carrying Colombian President Iván Duque and some of his closest aides finally sees some light as the Magdalena Medio Bloc, a dissident group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) claimed responsibility for it over this weekend.

The assault was performed against the Colombian Army's 30th Brigade in Cúcuta, where a car bomb exploded, and later the presidential helicopter was fired at.

“Today we want to inform the country and we assume with responsibility the actions carried out against the public force, such as the action against the 30th Brigade of the Army in Cúcuta and the United States military headquarters, action against the President of the Republic, Iván Duque Márquez,” said a spokesperson for the MMB in a video.

The group has also claimed responsibility for four more actions, including attacks on military bases in the department of Norte de Santander and attacks against infrastructure of mining companies, it was reported.

President Duque reacted to the news by assuring that the security forces will not be intimidated by these pronouncements.

“The terrorists who record Tartarinesque videos from Venezuela to mimic their cowardice already know of the blows we have delivered and we will continue to strike them. They do not intimidate us. They will continue to fall before the forcefulness of the Public Force,” Duque said on his Twitter account.

The authorities provided details of the investigations that were carried out with the support of the FBI and the United States Southern Command, and assured that 512 hours of video footage had been analyzed, expert reports were made on vehicles, in addition to fingerprint evidence, and that they had received calls from residents of neighboring areas to Brigade 30 and the place from where shots were fired at the president's helicopter.

Defense Minister Diego Molano also explained that the dissidents planned to stage yet another attack against Duque at the entrance to Bogotá. Molano also said that this group planned to commit other attacks against the headquarters of the Norte de Santander Police, the Cúcuta Police and the headquarters of the Cúcuta Prosecutor's Office, in addition to an attack with drones against the public force in the municipality of Tibú, also located in that Colombian department bordering Venezuela.

Last week, Colombian prosecutors had announced the arrest of ten people linked to the two attacks. One of the detainees is a retired Colombian Army captain, who according to the authorities “designed and executed” both attacks.