American soldiers targeted for murder by Colombian prisoners.
An extremist faction collaborated with the men to attack US troops at a military base in Cúcuta.
The Justice Department announced on Thursday that two Colombian citizens will receive long prison sentences for plotting and attempting to kill U.S. soldiers by detonating a car bomb near a military base on the Colombia-Venezuela border.
In 2021, Colombian nationals Andrés Fernando Medina Rodriguez and Ciro Alfonso Gutiérrez Ballesteros were convicted of attempting an attack and were sentenced to 35 and 30 years in prison, respectively.
Court documents reveal that Rodriguez, Ballesteros, and members of the 33rd Front, a radical faction of the FARC, targeted American troops at the 30th Army Brigade Base in Cúcuta, Colombia.
Rodriguez, a co-conspirator, used his status as a medically discharged Colombian army officer to gain access to the base and conducted photographic and video surveillance of the areas where the U.S. soldiers were primarily located, officials said.
Rodriguez and Ballesteros delivered a white SUV to their co-conspirators in the 33rd Front 10 days before the attack, who loaded it with an improvised explosive device.
On June 15, 2021, Rodriguez drove an SUV carrying a bomb to the 30th Army Brigade Base and parked it in front of the location where U.S. and Colombian military personnel worked.
Rodriguez, escorted by Ballesteros on a motorcycle, activated the bomb's timer device and fled on foot before leaving the area with Ballesteros.
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida stated that holding those responsible for targeting Americans, including the brave members of our uniformed services, is our most pressing mission and top priority.
"The prison sentences imposed on defendants Medina Rodriguez and Gutiérrez Ballesteros today demonstrate that those who endanger the safety and security of the United States and its citizens will be subject to the full might of our criminal justice system."
In the blast, 44 Colombian military personnel and three U.S. Army soldiers were injured.
The FBI's dedication to investigating criminal acts against our military personnel extends beyond our borders, as Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI's Miami Field Office stated.
"We collaborate with international partners and security services worldwide to carry out intricate investigations and obtain evidence from overseas for use in US criminal prosecutions."
The U.S. Army declined to provide a comment to Planet Chronicle Digital.
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