A 16-year-old boy on Thursday was sentenced for his role in a May 2012 bombing that intended to assassinate a former Colombian government minister.
The boy was sentenced to seven years in prison for the May 15, 2012 attack that injured former Minister of the Interior Fernando Londoño, killed his bodyguard and driver, and injured dozens more at a crowded intersection in Colombia’s capital, Bogota. The boy was the first suspect to be sentenced in the case.
MORE: Bogota ups security after ‘FARC’ assasination attempt on minister
On January 31, the young man accepted responsibility for his role in the attack. Authorities said he planted the explosive device on the hood of the former minister’s armored car.
He was arrested along with six other suspects in August of 2012 for charges of terrorism, homicide, attempted homicide and conspiracy. The other suspects got the added charge of using a minor to commit a crime for allegedly working with the 16 year old.
The boy, who reportedly went by the aliases “Carne” and “Piloto,” is said to be a member of the “El Parche de Zuley” street gang based in Colombia’s third-largest city, Cali. He is also being investigated for homicides unrelated to the Bogota bombing, drug trafficking, weapons possession, and motorcycle theft.
Although Colombian authorities point to the FARC as the group responsible for the attack, there has been no evidence presented to connect the Cali street gang or the jailed teenager to the rebel group.
MORE: Bogota police arrest suspects of Lodoño assassination attempt
However, a man with reported connections to the FARC’s demobilized Heroes de Marquetalia mobile column was arrested in June 2012, in relation to a car bomb that was discovered on May 15, 2012, hours before the blast that killed Lodoño’s bodyguard and driver. Authorities believe the two bombs are related.
MORE: Another suspect arrested in Bogota defused carbomb
Former minister Londoño is an outspoken critic of the country’s leftist groups and worked for the controversial former President Alvaro Uribe. He and many other people believe that the attack was perpetrated by the FARC.
MORE: Londoño points finger at FARC after Bogota bombing
Sources
- Por atentado a exministro Londono condenan a siete anos de prision a menor (El Espectador)
- Primera condena por atentado al exministro Fernando Londono (CMI)
- Bogota bomb: Fernando Londono, former Colombia official, targeted in assassination attempt (Huffington post)
- Condenan a menor por atentado al exministro Fernando Lodoño (Vanguardia)
- Primera condena por atentado de Fernando Lodoño (El Tiempo)