Biden appeared in favor of the Duke of Colombia after the attack | New conflicts

Colombian President Ivan Duque and other ministers were shot down by a helicopter near the Venezuelan border on Friday.

U.S. President Joe Biden has expressed his support for Colombian Ivan Duque after he was hit by a helicopter carrying a Colombian president and other government officials. they were fired at the end of last week Near the Venezuelan border.

In a statement Monday, the White House said Biden had called Duque to “express U.S. support after the attack.”

The helicopter struck several bullets as it flew through the Catatumbo region of the country to the city of Cucuta, the capital of the northern province of Santander.

He was not injured, and was later offered by the Colombian government a prize of nearly $ 800,000 for any information that would help capture the author.

Intermediate attack violence increases In Colombia, several armed groups live. The Colombian observer group Indepaz said over the weekend that 45 massacres this year – killing three or more people in a single incident – have been recorded this year.

Authorities often denounce armed groups — including the government and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) rebels — dissidents who refused a peace deal in 2016) for acts of violence.

The country has also been shocked mass protests against the government since April, the tax reform proposal was rejected because it disproportionately harmed the country’s middle class and workers.

He has been a Colombian police officer accused of committing “heinous” abuses in an effort to calm the demonstrations, receiving criticism from rights groups and other observers. Dozens of people are believed to have been killed in the protests.

In its statement, the White House said Biden’s call with Duke “appeared in favor of the rights of peaceful protesters,” stressing the need for the highest level of responsibility to enforce the law, and condemned trivial acts of violence and vandalism.

The U.S. president “reaffirmed the ongoing cooperation between the United States and Colombia,” the document said, pledging to vaccinate 2.5 million coronaviruses.

As in other Latin American countries, Colombia is experiencing another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nation has so far recorded more than 4.15 million cases and more than 104,600 deaths from the virus, according to accounts at Johns Hopkins University.

According to polls conducted last month, he was the Duke the least popular president In Colombian history, 76% of respondents said they rejected their registration.