Former mayor, one staffer of presidential candidate Abelardo de La Espriella shot dead in Colombia

A former mayor allied with presidential candidate Abelardo de La Espriella was shot dead in Colombia on Saturday. Local authorities said that another staffer was also killed in the incident. The killings of Rogers Devia and his staffer Eder Cardona were the latest incident of political violence in the region.

There has been a dispute between two groups labelled as terrorists by the US government and a third group. The groups are splinter groups of the once-dominant guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The authorities noted that Devia died in an attack by gunmen in the rural area of Cubarral, a city he governed between 2020 and 2023, which is 170 kilometres south of the capital Bogota, said the Public Defender’s Office of the department of Meta in a posting on X.

More from World

The timing of it all

Meanwhile, De La Espriella represents the National Salvation Movement. While speaking to the local reporters, the Public Defender’s Office said the killings could hurt “the exercise of political rights and democratic participation” ahead of Colombia’s presidential elections, which take place on May 31.

There will be at least half a dozen candidates competing in the election, including two members of smaller left-wing parties. If none of them gets 50 per cent of the votes, a runoff will take place in June between the top two contenders.

After the incident, Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said on his social media platform that investigators do not know why Devia was attacked. The minister added that police had recently prevented an attack against a staffer of another presidential candidate, Paloma Valencia, in the same city.

With inputs from The Associated Press.