The former mayor of Cubarral Rogers Devia, an ally of presidential candidate Abelardo de La Espriella, and political advisor Eder Cardona were shot to death on the night of Friday, 15th, in the interior of Colombia, according to local authorities.
According to the Associated Pressthe murders occurred in a region disputed by two groups considered terrorists by the United States government, and by a third group, described as a dissent from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Devia died in an armed attack in the rural area of Cubarral, a city he governed between 2020 and 2023 and which is 170 kilometers south of Bogotá, said the Public Defender’s Office of the department of Meta, eastern Colombia, in a statement published on X.
La Espriella, who represents the National Salvation Movement, lamented the deaths. “Two patriots cowardly murdered by narcoterrorism while carrying the flag of this campaign and the dream of a different Colombia,” he said.
“They were not cabinet politicians. They were men of the people, true Tigres, who walked the streets defending democracy, freedom and the hope of millions of Colombians. Their only crime was believing in the nation and refusing to bow down in the face of violence”, stated the candidate on his social network.
The Public Defender’s Office declared that the murders could harm “the exercise of political rights and democratic participation” before Colombia’s presidential elections, scheduled for May 31.
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Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said on his X account that investigators do not know why Devia was attacked and said police had recently prevented an attack on a member of the team of another presidential candidate, Paloma Valencia, in the same city.
