Ex-Colombian officer charged with conspiring to kill U.S. Army soldiers at military base
A former Colombian military officer was charged Friday with conspiring with others to plant a bomb in a vehicle to murder members of the U.S. Army who were working with Colombian soldiers in the South American country.
Three U.S. Army soldiers were injured in the bombing attack more than two years ago, U.S. authorities said.
Andres Fernando Medina Rodriguez, 39, who was extradited from Colombia to the United States this week, made his first appearance in Miami federal court Friday to face 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.
His defense attorney, Gabrielle McCable, could not be immediately reached for comment.
One of his co-conspirators, Ciro Alfonso Gutierrez Ballesteros, who was charged in the same indictment, is listed as a “fugitive” in the Miami federal court record.
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, 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, leaving the area on foot 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 Bogota 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 December 1, 2023 at 12:00 AM.
