By Luis Jaime Acosta
(Reuters) – Ammunition and weapons missing from Colombia’s army total significantly less than figures reported by President Gustavo Petro this week, a military document seen by Reuters showed, contradicting assertions by Petro about the loss of Israeli-made anti-tank missiles.
Petro on Tuesday said more than 1.6 million bullets were missing from two military bases in the country’s Cundinamarca and La Guajira provinces, as well as thousands of explosive munitions, two Spike missiles and 37 Nimrod missiles.
However, the report cited by Petro – seen by Reuters – only lists 131,000 missing bullets and a just under 6,000 explosive munitions. It does not mention any missing missiles.
Two senior military sources told Reuters the president read from the wrong column in the report, which is why he gave the incorrect figures.
General Helder Giraldo, commander of Colombia’s military, said an investigation has been launched to determine the correct quantity of missing ammunition, but denied any missiles had been lost.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Oliver Griffin)