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An exiled Venezuelan human rights activist and a political consultant have been shot and wounded in an apparently targeted attack in Colombia’s capital.
Yendri Omar Velásquez Rodríguez and Luis Alejandro Peche Arteaga were shot on Monday as they left a building in north Bogotá, Colombian police said.
The men were reported to be in a stable condition in hospital, police said, adding that Velásquez was to undergo surgery.
The Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado, who last week was awarded the Nobel peace prize for her pro-democracy activism, condemned the attack on social media and said the two men had been targeted by the government of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro.
According to Machado, Velásquez had sought refugee status in Colombia after being abducted in Venezuela in 2024 “for his work as a human rights defender”, while Peche “was also in Bogotá due to political persecution by the Maduro regime”.
“This attack constitutes a serious aggression not only against them but against all the work of protecting and promoting human rights in the region,” Machado said.
The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, said on X that government security forces would expand their protection of human rights activists. “All Venezuelan citizens who seek asylum in Colombia, independent of their ideas, are welcome,” he wrote.
Colombia’s ombudsman’s office criticised the attack and urged the attorney general’s office to investigate.
Colombian police said they were not aware of threats against the two men in Colombia.
Venezuela’s main opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform, condemned the attack.
Velásquez is the founder of the Venezuelan Observatory of LGBTIQ+ Violence, and had sought asylum in Colombia. He was detained in August 2024 at Venezuela’s main international airport outside Caracas, when the country was still tense from Maduro’s claim of a re-election victory and thousands were arrested after public protests. He had been on his way to a rights defence event in Switzerland.
The election results announced by the electoral council sparked protests across the country, to which the government responded with force that left more than 20 people dead.
The government cancelled Velásquez’s passport and held him for about six hours, an incident highlighted in a report by the human rights group Provea.
Peche Arteaga is a political consultant who has advised politicians, government institutions and private organisations. He was an adviser to Venezuela’s national assembly in 2017 and 2018, according to his social media profile.
Colombia’s ombudsman’s office said “the Venezuelan people deserve to live in peace and democracy”, adding that Venezuelan migrants in Colombia should be afforded protections by authorities.
