Government critic's car attacked in Colombia's capital
by Adriaan Alsema October 1, 2020
A groups of armed men took the car of a long-time critic of Colombia’s far-right former president Alvaro Uribe under fire in the capital Bogota on Wednesday.
According to the vice-minister of Defense, Daniel Palacios, the attack on the car of former Senator Piedad Cordoba (Liberal Party) during which one of her bodyguards was forced to surrender his gun was an attempted robbery.
Bogota Mayor Claudia Lopez said one of the alleged robbers was arrested and authorities are investigating the motives behind the alleged robbery.
Cordoba, who wasn’t in the car at the time of the attack, dismissed the robbery claim on Twitter, saying that her family suffered three “robberies” since last year.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/government-critics-car-attacked-in-colombias-capital/
A big smooch from ultra right-wing former President Alvaro Uribe
Senator Piedad Cordoba (Liberal Party)
~ ~ ~
Previously:
Colombian Senator Kidnapped
MARTIN HODGSON
May 21, 1999
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ Heavily armed gunmen disguised as federal agents burst into a medical clinic Friday and kidnapped an opposition senator active in Colombia’s fledgling peace process.
Piedad Cordoba was snatched from the lobby of an orthopedist’s office in the upscale El Poblado neighborhood of Medellin, the country’s second largest city, 155 miles northwest of Bogota, said presidential anti-kidnapping czar Jose Alfredo Escobar.
Eleven men carrying assault rifles and dressed in black overalls like the ones used by federal prosecutor’s agents intercepted Cordoba in the clinic’s lobby at midday. Three other men and a woman seated in the lobby in civilian clothes drew guns and helped overpower the senator’s two government bodyguards.
They told Cordoba she would be freed with a message about the peace process, said Escobar, citing eyewitness accounts.
Right-wing paramilitary gunmen or leftist rebels from the National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, could be responsible, said state security agency director Col. German Jaramillo.
More:
https://apnews.com/article/eb0181c6fe998b5a177e9755e9b0b3b1
~ ~ ~
Colombian negotiator Piedad Cordoba flees death threats
Published19 August 2011
Colombian peace campaigner and former Senator Piedad Cordoba has left the country after receiving death threats.
She has negotiated the release of a number of hostages held by the Farc guerrilla group, but the government accused her of helping the rebels.
She was banned from public office for 18 years.
Ms Cordoba's lawyer said the death threats had intensified following her latest attempts to get the rebels to the negotiating table.
Lawyer Luis Guillermo Perez said the intimidation had been "constant, and she was told an attack was being planned to kill her".
Mr Perez said the number of threats against Ms Cordoba had mounted over the past couple of weeks at the same time as she received increased media attention due to a letter her organisation sent to the Farc and ELN rebels.
. . .
'Foreign meddling'
Ms Cordoba has in the past expressed fears that supporters of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe may target her.
There has been a high-profile and public rift between the two politicians for years.
Ms Cordoba has been a staunch critic of Mr Uribe's security policies. She accused the armed forces of human rights abuses and collaboration with illegal right-wing paramilitaries.
Mr Uribe has been highly critical of Ms Cordoba's links with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
The Venezuelan president played a part in the negotiations which Ms Cordoba conducted with the Farc which led to the release of six hostages in 2008.
Mr Uribe accused her of undermining his government by helping President Chavez "to meddle in Colombian affairs".
Ms Cordoba is one of the people, alongside judges, opposition politicians and journalists, whose phone was illegally hacked by the Colombian secret police, DAS, under Mr Uribe.
Giving evidence before a congressional commission on Thursday over the illegal wiretaps, Mr Uribe admitted asking the DAS to investigate Ms Cordoba.
He said he had done so after one of her bodyguards had been killed and she accused the state of ordering the killing.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-14598633
~ ~ ~
SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS KIDNAPPING OF SENATOR PIEDAD CORDOBA DE CASTRO OF COLOMBIA
24 May 1999
Press Release
SG/SM/7000
SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS KIDNAPPING OF SENATOR PIEDAD CORDOBA DE CASTRO OF COLOMBIA
19990524 The following statement was issued today by the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General condemns the kidnapping of Senator Piedad Cordoba de Castro. The Senator, a firm supporter of peace and President of the Colombian Senate's Commission on Human Rights, has performed invaluable work towards the achievement of fundamental rights and freedoms. The Secretary- General expresses his hope that she will be released soon, and urges the Colombian authorities to do everything possible to this end.
https://www.un.org/press/en/1999/19990524.SGSM7000.html
Piedad Cordoba, as with other liberal Colombians deserves all possible hope and best wishes, always, until the fascist Colombians in power fade away, or go through a moral awakening.