Colombian authorities on Thursday revealed details of alleged plans by guerrilla group FARC to attack the inauguration of President Juan Manuel Santos earlier this month.
The investigative unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office released documents, letters and building plans it confiscated a week before the August 7 inauguration. Two suspected guerrillas were arrested in the operation.
According to the alleged evidence, the FARC received help from Basque separatist group ETA and had “the support of our neighboring countries, economic and arms support and the backing of politicians,” Caracol TV reported.
Some 250 guerrillas were involved in the botched operation, the television network said.
The alleged plan consisted of firing five mortars at the Bogota‘s Plaza Bolivar, where the inauguration took place, at the presidential palace and three other locations in the political heart of the capital.
The guerrillas allegedly started planning the attack in April, a month before the first round of the elections.
A similar attack took place during former President Alvaro Uribe’s inauguration in 2002, when FARC guerrillas launched hand-made explosives at the Casa de Nariño, killing nineteen and injuring 40 more.