US President Joe Biden has promised his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque “support to confront… terrorist actions” after Duque’s helicopter was attacked near the Venezuelan border last week, the government in Bogota said Monday.
The two leaders had their first telephone call since Biden assumed office in January, it added. Duque’s helicopter was approaching Cucuta airport on a flight from Sardinata when several shots — apparently from rifles — were fired at it on Friday. Duque was flying with Defense Minister Diego Molano, Interior Minister Daniel Palacios and other officials. No one on board was injured, but photos released by the president’s office showed the helicopter’s tail and main blade had been hit. A White House readout on the call also says Biden offered his “support.” The defense ministry blamed members of the ELN — Colombia’s last active rebel group — and dissidents who turned their back on a 2016 peace pact signed with the FARC guerrilla group. The two groups and other paramilitary organizations are fighting over thousands of hectares (acres) of coca — used in producing cocaine — grown in the border region with Venezuela. Bogota also blames the ELN and FARC dissidents for a car bomb 10 days earlier at a military base in Cucuta that injured 36. The base hosted American soldiers involved in the fight against drug trafficking.
The ELN has denied involvement in the attack which the FBI is helping to investigate. In the phone call, Biden expressed his “concern” about the situation in neighboring Venezuela and underlined the importance of finding “international consensus” for “free and fair elections” to be held there, both the Colombian government and the White House said. Colombia and the United States are among dozens of nations that recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the president of Venezuela, regarding Nicolas Maduro’s re-election as illegitimate. Colombia and Venezuela have not enjoyed diplomatic ties since February 2019.
Biden also announced a donation of 2.5 million doses of Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines to Colombia, the government in Bogota said. Colombia is battling a fresh wave of coronavirus infections that experts have linked to weeks of anti-government protests that have seen thousands take to the streets. Dozens of people have been killed in clashes marked by a heavy-handed police response that has elicited international condemnation.