The animals are at it again. They got caught trying to kill President Uribe of Colombia. The story is here.
COLOMBIA-PRESIDENT
Explosive found near ranch of Colombia President Uribe
Bogota, Dec 24 (EFE).- A bomb made up of some 46 kilos (101 lbs.) of explosives and shrapnel was found near the ranch of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, in the northern province of Cordoba, presidential bodyguards reported.
The device was found shortly before Uribe was scheduled to arrive at his rural retreat, located some five minutes from the regional capital, Monteria, and 902 kilometers (560 miles) northwest of Bogota.
Military personnel and police responsible for Uribe’s security told the press in Monteria that a peasant had warned of a bag left in the area.
Inside the bag were discovered 10.7 kilos (24 lbs.) of two kinds of high-powered explosives and 36 kilos (79 lbs.) of shrapnel, as well as various detonators.
Explosives experts said that the bomb had not yet been assembled.
The bag was found some 400 meters from Uribe’s country home, on the side of a road where he customarily jogs when he stays overnight at his residence “El Uberrimo,” or Fertile Land.
The president spent Friday night at the ranch, which he left Saturday after heading a community council in Monteria.
Security agents did not discount that the explosive device was meant for an assassination attempt against Uribe, who is the Colombian politician most threatened by guerrilla groups.
Since he came to power in August 2002, the president has been the target of various terrorist attacks, all unsuccessful, while others have been discovered while still in the planning stage.
Last October security forces found mortars in an east Bogota house aimed by presumed leftist rebels at the seat of the government and the military unit protecting it.
Uribe said the mortars were found in the Las Cruces neighborhood, which is within sight of the Nari????o presidential palace and the presidential guard’s headquarters.
“They found tubes with explosives,” Uribe said during a visit to the north Bogota neighborhood.
The mortars found were of the same type used by Marxist insurgents in attacks on Aug. 7, 2002, the day Uribe was sworn in as president.
The inauguration day mortar attacks killed 21 people. Mortar rounds were fired at a military school in northwest Bogota, and, a few hours later, at other downtown locations.
Some shells fired as Uribe was being sworn in hit the nearby presidential palace, wounding several police officers.
The most serious damage, however, was done a few blocks away in the El Cartucho neighborhood, an area frequented by beggars, prostitutes and drug addicts, where 15 people were killed and dozens of others wounded in the rebel barrage.
EFE jgh/cd