Tension rises in Colombia as vote looms

Senator kidnapped, president targeted

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Colombian Senator Aida Quilcue delivers a speech during a march in Cali, on Oct 21, 2024.

(AFP)

A Colombian senator was rescued from kidnappers on Tuesday as the country's president reported an attempt on his own life in the run-up to elections that observers have warned could be marred by violence.

Senator Aida Quilcue, an awardwinning indigenous activist, was taken by unknown people in her home department of Cauca, a conflict-ridden, coca-growing region fought over by dissidents of the now-disbanded FARC guerrilla army.

The 53-year-old was rescued by a group of indigenous people, her team reported on X, hours after the vehicle she had been travelling in with two bodyguards was found abandoned.

"I'm OK now," Ms Quilcue said through tears in a video posted by Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez, which also showed her being bundled into an armoured vehicle by members of Colombia's military anti-kidnapping unit.

She later told AFP she had been taken by "various armed men", without saying which group they belonged to.

"They took us out of the vehicle and then forced us to walk to an unknown location," she said.