Colombian President Gustavo Petro says he narrowly escaped an assassination plot while flying with his daughters, after months of warning about threats from drug traffickers.

The incident forced changes to his travel plans and security arrangements along the country’s Caribbean coast.

Speaking at a Council of Ministers meeting in Cordoba Department, Petro described the recent attack attempt on his life. He said that his helicopter could not land as planned because he had received intelligence that “they were going to shoot” at his aircraft.

“Last night, I couldn’t land because I was informed that they were going to shoot at the helicopter I was travelling in with my daughters,” Petro told Radio Nacional de Colombia. He added that his flight had to remain over open waters for several hours before safely landing at an alternate location with support from the Colombian navy.

History of threats

Petro has previously reported an assassination attempt in 2024. Since assuming office in August 2022, he has claimed that a drug-trafficking cartel has repeatedly targeted him. The latest warnings have kept him in a “state of permanent alert,” Petro said, linking the threats to actions dating back to October of last year.

The revelations come amid growing violence in Colombia, months before the presidential elections. Petro is constitutionally barred from seeking a second term.

Related security concerns

The assassination plot surfaced the same day that Senator Aida Quilcue, an Indigenous activist and human rights worker, was kidnapped in Cauca, a coca-growing region with ongoing conflict involving dissident groups from the disbanded FARC rebel army.

Quilcue, 53, was traveling in an SUV with two bodyguards when abducted. Her vehicle was later recovered empty by members of an Indigenous guard unit. Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed on X that the senator and her bodyguards had been safely released.

Petro warned the kidnappers against crossing “a red line,” emphasizing the government’s zero-tolerance approach to such acts.