Colombian President Gustavo Petro blames Albanian drug trafficking groups for the assassination attempt that seriously injured his rival Miguel Uribe.
Petro expressed his belief in a post on the X network that the ones who ordered the assassination are Albanian traffickers who want to take revenge for the war that the Colombian government has declared on their drug cartels and to benefit by destabilizing the country.
"The killers want us to kill each other, to weaken the state to take control of the illegal economy. Three drug lords of Albanian origin have been captured, also located in Italy, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. Albanians buy cocaine on the western borders of Colombia, using the ports of Buenaventura and Ecuador. All are members of the drug trafficking junta with headquarters in Italy and Dubai."
He blamed a drug trafficking network stretching from Dubai, Italy and Albania to Ecuador, saying it has links to Colombia's Gulf Clan and a warlord known as Iván Mordisco.
The assassination attempt on Uribe is the latest sign that events in Colombia are spiraling out of control, just over a year before Petro leaves office.
Cocaine production is at a record high, gangs are taking over more territory, and fiscal accounts are the worst they've been since the pandemic.
The teenage suspect in this case will appear in court Tuesday morning, where he is likely to be charged with attempted murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Authorities say the Glock pistol used in the attack was purchased in the United States in 2020.
Since the suspect is a minor, he will be tried in a juvenile system under which the maximum sentence he faces if convicted is eight years.
Albanian drug trafficking groups are increasingly being mentioned as a destabilizing factor in Latin American countries.
Venezuela's authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, accused the Albanian mafia of trying to destabilize the country, just days before the May 25 parliamentary elections.
Albanian cartels were also blamed for the 2023 assassination of another presidential candidate in Ecuador.