Former Colombian military officer accused in base bombing extradited to Florida

MIAMI– A former Colombian military officer accused of wounding dozens, including three U.S. soldiers, in a bombing of a Colombian military base has been extradited to South Florida.

A five-count indictment against 39-year-old Andres Fernando Medina Rodriguez was unsealed in Miami federal court on Friday, according to court records. A federal grand jury returned charges last year, including conspiracy to murder members of the U.S. Uniformed Services and attempted murder of members of the U.S. Uniformed Services. He faces a possible life sentence.

An attorney for Medina Rodriguez did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment from The Associated Press.

Court records list another man charged in the indictment, Ciro Alfonso Gutierrez Ballesteros, as a fugitive.

According to the indictment, Medina Rodriguez and others planned a bombing of the Colombian 30th Army Brigade base in Cucuta, Colombia. Medina Rodriguez used his status as a medically discharged Colombian army officer to gain access to the base and provide surveillance.

Cucuta sits on the border with Venezuela, where several criminal groups have fought over drug smuggling routes and used the loosely guarded border to smuggle fuel and weapons.

Medina Rodriguez was ordered to purchase a vehicle suitable for transporting an explosive device, prosecutors said. He bought a white SUV, which was taken to Venezuela and equipped with the explosives, investigators said.

In June 2021, Medina Rodriguez drove the vehicle loaded with explosives to the Cucuta base, where he pulled the detonation pin and fled the area, prosecutors said. Officials previously reported that 36 people were injured in the bombing and that US soldiers had been there to conduct training exercises.