A second Colombian extradited to Miami on charges of plotting to murder US soldiers
A Colombian man was extradited this week to Miami on charges of conspiring with a former Colombian military officer to plant a bomb in a vehicle to murder members of the U.S. Army who were working with soldiers in the South American country.
Three U.S. Army members were injured in the bombing attack about three years ago, U.S. authorities said.
Ciro Alfonso Gutierrez Ballesteros, 32, made his first appearance in Miami federal court on Thursday — three months after a co-conspirator, Andres Fernando Medina Rodriguez, 39, was extradited from Colombia. Together, they face trial on a five-count terrorism-related indictment, including conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiring to murder members of the First Security Assistance Brigade, part of United States Uniformed Services. The charges carry up to life in prison.
Gutierrez Ballesteros, represented by the federal public defender’s office, is set for a detention hearing and arraignment on Tuesday. Medina Rodriguez, who is being held at the Miami Federal Detention Center, has pleaded not guilty.
According to the indictment, Medina Rodriguez planned a bombing attack with Gutierrez Ballesteros and others against the U.S. Army soldiers stationed at the Colombian 30th Army Brigade Base in Cucuta, Colombia, in 2021.
Medina Rodriguez used his status as a medically discharged Colombian Army officer to gain access to the base where he conducted surveillance, according to federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Justice Department. As part of the surveillance, he took photographs and video of the areas where the U.S. Army soldiers were at the base, the indictment says.
One of Medina Rodriguez’s co-conspirators, Gutierrez Ballesteros, instructed him to find a vehicle to carry out a “vehicle borne improvised explosive device” attack at the base. With money from Gutierrez Ballesteros, Medina Rodriguez bought a white SUV, and he and his co-conspirators drove the vehicle to Venezuela where it was outfitted with the explosives, according to the indictment.
In mid-June 2021, Medina Rodriguez drove the vehicle with the explosive device to the 30th Army Brigade Base in Cucuta, Colombia, the indictment states. He then parked it in front of the mission support site and intelligence building where U.S. and Colombian military personnel were gathered.
Medina Rodriguez pulled the detonation pin on the explosive, running away before he fled on a motorcycle driven by Gutierrez Ballesteros, according to the indictment.
Three U.S. Army soldiers were injured in the explosion, prosecutors said.
The FBI led the investigation of the case, assisted by the FBI legal attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá and the Colombian National Police. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randy A. Hummel and Andy Camacho, along with the Justice Department’s National Security Division Trial Attorneys David C. Smith and Michael Dittoe, are prosecuting the case.
This story was originally published March 8, 2024 at 7:09 PM.
