Fernando Londoño, the former minister who was targeted in a May 15 terrorist attack, maintains that the FARC are behind the bombing that killed two people and injured dozens more in northern Bogota.
“I have the absolute conviction that those who attacked me were the FARC,” the former interior minister said in a press conference Wednesday.
He went on to point out that high-ranking security officials like Bogota police chief General Luis Martinez and army commander General Sergio Mantilla pinned the blame on Colombia’s largest guerrilla group following the attack.
The conservative politician, who was the target of FARC threats last year, wasted no time in blaming the FARC for the assassination attempt in his first public statement following the incident on May 17.
Londoño was quick to criticize President Juan Manuel Santos for his failure to place responsibility on the FARC, saying the head of state “must recognize this is getting out of hand.”
National police commander General Oscar Naranjo responded to Londoño’s comments Thursday.
“We have no evidence that it was the FARC(…) we haven’t ruled out that hypothesis. Moreover, I realize that the FARC may be responsible but that’s based on their track record and not the results of our investigation,” he said. He went on to defend the President’s handling of the investigation. “I should emphasize that the president is supportive of the information we give to authorities.”
The ELN, a Colombian leftist group, released a statement Monday claiming that the “extreme right” was responsible for the attack.
For his part, Santos has yet to point fingers at anyone for the bombing. “It is possible that the FARC were or were not responsible” said Santos in a press conference Friday. “Research continues. There are different hypotheses, but we cannot conclude on that particular case.”
Colombian police captured former FARC member Andres Felipe Rios Wednesday for his alleged role in the terrorist attack. He denied the allegations, saying he left the leftist organization due to his poor eyesight and is no longer an active member.
Londoño, who hosts his own radio show called “The Hour of Truth,” said the fatal incident was an attack against journalists and “that there are things in Colombia which cannot be said, opinions that cannot be issued, views that cannot be sustained.”
Londoño sustained a lacerated lung and a ruptured eardrum in the bombing that killed his bodyguard and driver.
