MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombian VP's car shot at; she was elsewhere

Márquez urged the EMC guerrillas to “allow Cauca to live in peace and move forward”

The car Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez usually rides was shot at Wednesday although the apparent target of the onslaught was not aboard at the time of the attack, it was reported from her native southwestern city of Suárez.

“I have been informed by my security and protection team that the main vehicle of the vice-presidential motorcade, in which I usually travel, was hit by a projectile, apparently from a rifle, which penetrated the interior of the vehicle without causing any injury to the occupants,” Márquez said.

Márquez, who is also Minister of Equality, explained that the events unfolded the same day she visited the new University of Valle headquarters alongside Education Minister Aurora Vergara. “The attack occurred when I was already in the city of Cali attending to another commitment,” she elaborated.

“We do not have to lament any victims on this occasion, but I cannot fail to express my deep concern for the situation in Cauca and the constant tension faced by the people of the region on a daily basis. We came to bring the public university to Suarez and we will not desist in this effort for the future of our people,” the Vice President also pointed out while urging all armed groups operating in the area, particularly the Central General Staff (EMC), the main dissidence of Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) to “allow Cauca to live in peace and move forward.”

Her father Sigifredo Márquez suffered a similar attack in June while traveling with a six-year-old grandson in a rural area nearby. In addition, a “device with more than 7 kilos of explosive material” was found in January 2023, at a Márquez estate.

Before being elected into office, Márquez used to be an environmental activist and a lawyer focused on those issues.

The departments of Cauca and Valle del Cauca have witnessed more than two months of recurring terrorist by the EMC against military and police facilities.