Petro claims to have been the target of an attack amid the offensive against cartels

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, said this Tuesday (10) that he had escaped an assassination attempt attributed to drug traffickers during his official trip to Córdoba, where he would participate in a Council of Ministers.

“I have to confess here that I was running away so they wouldn’t kill me, which is why I couldn’t arrive last night,” said the president.

According to the Colombian, the helicopter he was traveling in was unable to land at the expected location and not even the lights in the landing area were turned on. Petro stated that after warnings that he could be the target of fire, he remained over the sea for around four hours before landing at another point.

“We flew over the sea for four hours and I ended up arriving at a place that wasn’t expected (…) running away so as not to be killed with me and my children”, he reported. The statement was made during the live broadcast of the Council of Ministers held in Montería.

In the same statement, Petro blamed what he called the “new drug trafficking junta”, which, according to him, has been trying to attack his life since the beginning of his mandate, in August 2022.

The episode occurs just days after the Colombian government announced priority to intelligence and capture actions against drug trafficking leaders. Among the targets mentioned is Jobanis de Jesús Ávila, known as “Chiquito Malo”, identified as leader of the Clan del Golfo, a group with a strong presence in the department of Córdoba, where the meeting took place.

Last week, the organization suspended peace negotiations held in Qatar after a meeting between Petro and the President of the United States, Donald Trump, which resulted in a commitment to cooperation to locate drug leaders considered a priority.

In recent months, Petro has been the target of public attacks by Donald Trump, who even accused him of being the “biggest drug trafficker in the world” and of collusion with drug trafficking.

The Colombian president has refuted the statements presenting data on seizures and operations carried out by his government, maintaining that no other administration has acted with the same intensity against drug trafficking.

To date, security authorities have not released additional operational details about the episode or reported on investigations or arrests related to the case.

The complaint comes amid a scenario of increased political and criminal violence in the country, just a few months before the 2026 presidential elections, in which Petro cannot run for re-election due to constitutional restrictions.