Former Colombian officer charged with bombing attack that injured 3 U.S. Army soldiers

MIAMI (TND) — The indictment against a medically discharged Colombian Army officer was unsealed as the suspect, extradited to Miami, made his first court appearance.

Andres Fernando Medina Rodriguez was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2022 for charges including conspiring to murder members of the U.S. Uniformed Services.

The indictment says Medina Rodriguez and co-conspirators planned an attack at the Colombian 30th Army Brigade Base in Cucuta, and Medina Rodriguez used his status to get into the base.

There, the indictment says he conducted surveillance by taking photographs and video of the areas where the U.S. Army soldiers were primarily located.

It even says a co-conspirator had Medina Rodriguez find and purchase a vehicle suitable for conducting a vehicle-borne improvised-explosive device attack, and he and his co-conspirators drove a new SUV to Venezuela where it was outfitted with the explosives.

Then, on June 15, 2021, he parked the SUV, pulled the detonation pin, ran away, and eventually escaped on a motorcycle driven by a co-conspirator. Three U.S. Army soldiers were injured.

The charges Medina Rodriguez, 39, is facing are

1. conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction,
2. conspiring to murder members of the Uniformed Services,
3. providing material support to terrorists,
4. use of a weapon of mass destruction, and
5. attempted murder of members of the Uniformed Services.