COLOMBIAN VICE PRESIDENT'S VAN TARGETED IN SHOOTING

BOGOTA (Colombia), July 11 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez's van was shot at in the country's southwest on Wednesday.

The incident took place near the Cauca region around 1.30 pm local time (1830GMT) when the vehicle was hit by a bullet that authorities say likely came from a rifle.

Anadolu Agency reported that Marquez was not in the van when the attack took place, as she was taking part in an event in the city of Cali, and no one was injured.

“This time we have no regrets, but I cannot help but express my enormous concern for Cauca and the permanent tension that my people are experiencing every day throughout the region," said a statement issued by the vice president.

Marquez, the country’s first Afro-Colombian vice president, asked armed groups to “silence their rifles and allow Cauca to live in peace.”

This was the second attack against Marquez's security detail. The first one occurred on June 16, when members of the Jaime Martinez Front, a dissident faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla movement, shot at a van in which Sigifredo Marquez, the father of the vice president, was travelling.

Marquez had been targeted in her home region of Cauca in 2019 by men with guns and grenades during a meeting with community leaders.

The country's security situation has deteriorated since President Gustavo Petro came to power in 2022, when he insisted on implementing his “Total Peace” policy through talks with armed and criminal groups.

-- BERNAMA-Anadolu