Ecuadorian government condemns attack on Colombian vice president’s vehicle

The attack on Márquez’s vehicle occurred on a highway in the troubled department of Cauca / Photo: El País

The Ecuadorian government on Thursday expressed its deepest rejection and condemnation of the armed attack carried out once morest the vehicle in which Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez normally travels, when she was not in it.

“We extend our solidarity and support to the vice president, her family and the people of Colombia. We reiterate our commitment to continue working for peace, justice and security for all,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador in a statement.

The attack on Márquez’s vehicle occurred on a highway in the troubled department of Cauca (southwest), where the senior official is from.

The vice president, who is also the minister for equality and equity, said in a statement that everything happened following leaving the municipality of Suárez, where she was born, following a visit with the outgoing minister of education, Aurora Vergara.

The attack, he added, occurred “when I was already in the city of Cali (capital of the department of Valle del Cauca), attending to another commitment.”

Last month, Sigifredo Márquez, the vice president’s father, was the target of a similar attack when he was traveling with the high-ranking official’s six-year-old nephew between the towns of Timba, where today’s attack occurred, and the hamlet of Robles, a rural area of ​​Jamundí, in the neighboring department of Valle del Cauca.

Likewise, in January 2023, Márquez reported the discovery of a “device with more than 7 kilos of explosive material” on the road leading to his family residence in Suárez.

The departments of Cauca and Valle del Cauca have been the scene for more than two months of terrorist actions by the Central General Staff (EMC), the main dissident group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once morest military and police installations.

Quito, Ecuador / EFE