Overview
- President Gustavo Petro said intelligence warned that people were preparing to fire on his helicopter on the Caribbean coast, prompting a diversion over open water for about four hours before an alternate landing with navy support.
- He reported traveling with his daughters and described last-minute changes to routes and security, but he did not name suspects or provide details tying any group to the episode.
- Officials have issued no formal threat assessment, though prior warnings have linked potential plots to drug traffickers and dissident armed factions such as networks led by Iván Mordisco and the Gulf Clan, without public evidence for this incident.
- The claim surfaced as political violence intensifies ahead of Colombia’s March 8 legislative and May 31 presidential elections, including the brief kidnapping and release of Senator Aida Quilcue and recent attacks on lawmakers’ security teams.
- In a separate allegation, Petro said saboteurs sought to plant drugs in his vehicle before his recent meeting with President Donald Trump; local reports named police General Edwin Urrego Pedraza, who denied involvement, called the claim misinformation, and contested reports he was ordered out of the force.