Colombian President Gustavo Petro reported today a new assassination plot targeting him. According to the head of state, the threat materialized while he was traveling aboard an official helicopter to the department of Córdoba, in the Caribbean region, where the presidential delegation was heading to respond to the severe flooding affecting that part of the country.
In his account, the president said the action against his life was neutralized only because authorities rescheduled the landing after receiving intelligence indicating a possible armed attack against the aircraft. Petro recounted the events during a meeting with his ministers broadcast live on television, in which he explained that the flight maneuvers were extended for several hours over open sea until they were able to land in a safe location.
Colombia’s Petro says new assassination plot against him was thwarted
The episode reported by Petro takes place in the context of a turbulent electoral campaign in Colombia, with multiple acts of violence that have heightened concerns about the security of candidates, political leaders, and officials. According to the president’s statements, the planned routes and schedules for his transfer had to be altered at the last minute amid fears that “they were going to shoot at” the helicopter in which he was traveling accompanied by part of his security team.
The complaint not only describes a scenario of high danger, but also emphasizes what Petro describes as a plan by factions of drug traffickers and illegal armed groups to attempt to assassinate him. Without going into specific details about identities or intelligence, the president links these threats to organizations that, according to him, operate both in Colombia and from abroad, including dissidents from the former FARC and other organized crime actors who oppose his government’s policies.
“We headed out over open sea for four hours and I arrived where we were not supposed to arrive, escaping being killed,” the president said, in a tone of alarm and warning about the risks he believes his life faces from criminal groups.
The alleged plot would involve drug traffickers living abroad—whom Petro denounced at the White House last week as priority targets of anti-narcotics policy—and guerrilla leaders such as alias Iván Mordisco, the country’s most wanted criminal and head of the largest dissident faction of the FARC guerrilla, that did not sign the 2016 peace agreement.
In that specific region of Córdoba operates the Gulf Clan, currently the country’s largest cartel, which last week threatened to suspend the peace talks it is holding with the Colombian state in Qatar after Petro agreed with U.S. President Donald Trump to launch a manhunt to find its top leader, alias Chiquito Malo.
Although the Colombian president’s complaints have not always aligned with the response of military authorities, it is true that the government has strengthened protection protocols for senior officials, expanding security details in response to what it defines as a growing risk environment.
Related: Colombia Charges Ecopetrol Chief Over Alleged Crimes in Petro’s 2022 Campaign.
Pattern of allegations: other attempted attacks according to Petro
This is not the first time Petro claims to have been the target of plans to kill him. Over his nearly four years at the head of Colombia, and even before assuming the presidency in 2022, he has reported several alleged assassination attempts that he himself attributes to the drug trafficking “mafia” and armed factions willing to use violence to halt his policies.
In June 2025, for example, Petro criticized the official version of the discovery of two rocket launchers in Bogotá that authorities described as “obsolete” weapons. The president argued that the presence of those devices could have been intended to target his life, and suggested the existence of meetings to coordinate attacks against him, although without presenting clear public evidence.
On another occasion, Petro claimed that drug traffickers had purchased surface-to-air missiles with the intention of attacking him during the United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity (COP16) held in Cali in 2024. He attributed that operation to what he described as an internationally connected “drug trafficking board,” although he did not provide verifiable evidence of the existence of those missiles or of who might have supplied them.
The allegations extend to periods even before his presidency. During his 2022 presidential campaign, Petro also claimed that criminal gangs were planning attacks against him, which was used in campaign speeches as an argument about the risks of political violence in Colombia.