Colombian authorities investigate a possible plan to attack the presidential candidate Paloma Valenciathe representative to the Chamber Catherine Juvinao and the comptroller of Colombia, Carlos Hernán Rodríguezso their security schemes were reinforced.
“The possible existence of a plan to attack their lives expresses a serious risk for women in the exercise of politics, as well as for an official in charge of an essential control function within the framework of the rule of law,” the Ombudsman’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday.
Senator Valencia is a presidential candidate for the Democratic Center, the opposition party to which the also candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay belonged, who died on August 11, two months after being seriously injured in an attack in Bogotá while he was campaigning politically.
Juvinao, from the Green Alliance party, has been a strong critic of the Government of Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
The risk of attack, according to the Ombudsman’s Office, “could translate into the violation of their fundamental rights to life, personal integrity and the exercise of political rights.” “In addition, it would do very serious damage to our democracy,” the organization added.
The Ombudsman’s Office highlighted that it was the Government itself that identified the alleged plan and the measures it adopted to strengthen the protection of these people.
The organization also assured that it is “fundamental” that the Prosecutor’s Office advances in clarifying these events and, if applicable, in the “prosecution of those responsible.”
Likewise, the Ombudsman’s Office stated that it was in a position to coordinate harmoniously with the other branches of public power and to accompany Senator Valencia, Representative Juvinao and Comptroller Rodríguez.
“We can and must take care of Colombian democracy day by day and we only do so if we work together, adding institutional action, that of political parties and movements of all ideological tendencies and that of society,” concluded the Ombudsman’s Office.
Last week, the Ombudsman’s Office warned that more than 600 municipalities in the country have different levels of risk ahead of the legislative elections on March 8, 2026 and the first presidential round on May 31.
In this regard, the Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez Suárez, has said that the Government will activate the Democracy Plan to guard the political activities of the 2026 electoral process with a deployment of 20,000 members of the Army and the Police.
