Police in Colombia have arrested an alleged suspect in the attack on Alejo Vidal-Quadras, former member of the European Parliament and co-founder of the far-right Vox party, who was shot in the face in Madrid last November.
The suspect, Greg Oliver Higuera Marcano, of Venezuelan origin, fled to his country after learning that the Spanish authorities were looking for him. When he tried to enter Colombia using a passport with the same name, the immigration police there checked his background and saw there was a red alert notice issued for him.
Interpol had sent the alert for terrorism offences, issued by the authorities in Madrid, the Colombian immigration service said on social media.
The country’s police have said they are coordinating with the Spanish authorities to bring Higuera Marcano to justice.
Three other men allegedly involved in the attack, who had fled to southern Spain, have already been arrested. A third person involved, a French citizen of Tunisian origin, Mehrez Ayari, who the police believe is the perpetrator of the shooting, is still being sought.
According to Spanish media reports, the police investigation suggests that the man recently arrested played a logistical role in the plot. He is believed to have convinced the Tunisian hitman, who has not yet been arrested, to carry out the attack.
They reportedly met in the Italian prison where they were both serving their sentences.
Vidal-Quadras survived and was discharged from hospital 15 days after the attack. While recovering, he sent a letter to the Iranian dissident group he works with, accusing the Tehran regime of “planning and executing” his attack.
The document was read out in the European Parliament by the Friends of Free Iran group. The Spanish National Court is investigating the incident as a terrorist attack.
In the same letter, the Spanish politician criticised the EU’s current policy towards the Islamic Republic.
“For decades, the West has tried to appease, negotiate, dialogue and make concessions. We now have all the evidence that this approach has not worked and will never work,” he said.
The politician was leader of the conservative Popular Party in the Catalan region in the 1990s. He went on to become an MEP and later founded Vox, but left the far-right party after it was founded.
