Colombian police say they have arrested a Venezuelan national on suspicion of involvement in an assassination attempt on the co-founder of Spain's far-right party Vox in Madrid last year.
Greg Oliver Higuera Marcano is the former leader of Spain's main right-wing party in Catalonia, and later the co-founder of Vox, who was involved in last year's shooting of Alejo Vidal-Cuadras, a former vice president of the European Parliament. He was wanted in connection.
The 78-year-old was shot in the head last November but survived.
Colombian police said in a statement that, according to a Spanish investigation, Venezuelans are suspected of “participating in logistical support in the attack on Vidal Cuadras.”
Police said Higuera was “discovered” by immigration authorities on Tuesday as he “intended to enter Colombia through the Simón Bolívar International Bridge” on the Venezuelan border.
Police said “coordination procedures” are currently underway to extradite Higuera to a Spanish court.
Mr. Vidal-Cuadras was leader of the conservative PP in northeast Catalonia in the 1990s. He went on to become a member of Congress and one of the founders of Vox, but left shortly after Vox was founded.
Vidal-Cuadras had previously accused the Iranian regime of being behind the assassination attempt. In October 2022, Vidal Cuadras was added to the Iran sanctions list in retaliation for EU sanctions imposed on the country following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman. It was done.
The Iranian National Council of Resistance Committee, a Paris-based Iranian opposition group, had previously described Vidal Quadras as a loyal ally and blamed the Iranian government for the attack.
Last November, Spain announced the arrest of three suspects in a “terrorist assassination attempt'' against Vidal-Cuadras.
Spanish authorities say the suspect is a Frenchman of Tunisian descent, but he has not yet been arrested.
with Agence France-Presse
