A Colombian senator was rescued from captors on Tuesday while the country’s president revealed an assassination attempt on his life leading up to elections that experts fear could be plagued by violence.
Senator Aida Quilcue, a celebrated Indigenous advocate, was abducted by unidentified individuals in Cauca, a troubled area known for conflict and coca cultivation, which is contested by remnants of the disbanded FARC rebel group.
The 53-year-old senator was liberated by a group of Indigenous individuals, according to her team’s statement, following the discovery of the deserted vehicle she had been traveling in with two bodyguards.
“I am safe now,” Quilcue expressed emotionally in a video shared by Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez.
