The father and a nephew of Colombia’s Vice-President Francia Marquez survived a gun attack in the southwest of Colombia.
According to authorities, the car of Sigifredo Marquez was attacked while he and the VP’s six-year-old nephew were passing through Jamundi, a town in the Valle del Cauca province.
Authorities did not immediately suggest who could have been behind the attack and nobody claimed resopnsibility.
Jamundi has seen extreme levels of violence because of fighting between the security forces and illegal armed groups, particularly guerrilla group EMC.
The military will continue its offensive against all these structures that persist in war and continue to complicate the road to peace in Colombia. The full weight of the law will fall on these groups.
President’s Office
The vice-president, who has suffered multiple assassination attempts in her native region, said that “my heart hurts that precisely on [father’s] day they attack my father.”
Colombia’s VP says police prevented assassination attempt
Marquez additionally expressed concern about public security in the Valle del Cauca and Cauca provinces, and the personal safety of her family.
In these difficult times I call on all of Colombia to join the efforts necessary to lead our society to peace. If we work in unity we will be able to turn this page of pain and violence.
Vice-President Francia Marquez
The VP asked the prosecution to investigate the shooting and asked Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez to “take the necessary measures to strengthen the presence of the military and the police” in Cauca and Valle del Cauca.
The attack comes months after President Gustavo Petro suspended a ceasefire with the EMC in southwest Colombia.
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Since then, guerrillas and members of the security forces have been fighting regularly as they vie for control over the region that is of major strategic importance for drug traffickers and gold miners alike.