BOGOTA – A purported co-conspirator who had second thoughts is providing information on a plot to assassinate two of Colombia’s most prominent leftist politicians, La Opinion newspaper said Monday.

The targets were former Sen. Piedad Cordoba and Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro, the informant said from neighboring Venezuela in an interview with the daily, which is published in the border city of Cucuta.

He said the plot was masterminded by retired army Sgt. Hernando Medina Camacho, who served eight years in prison for his part in the 1994 murder of Sen. Manuel Cepeda Vargas.

Cordoba first denounced the ostensible conspiracy at a May 9 press conference in Bogota, insisting that prosecutors were already assembly evidence against the conspirators, though sources at the Attorney General’s Office consulted by Efe on Monday denied the existence of any investigation.

Medina and other plotters met on May 6 in the southern city of Huila to discuss plans to kill Cordoba, who since 2008 has helped broker the release of a score of hostages held by the FARC guerrilla group, the informant said.

Plotters also talked about killing Petro, a veteran of the long-defunct M-19 rebel movement, according to the informant, and the Bogota city government confirmed Sunday that the mayor’s security was being beefed up.

Medina and three other people were going to share 500 million pesos ($280,000) for carrying out the assassinations, the informant said.

He said that while he never met the woman assigned to kill Cordoba, he learned the would-be killer took advantage of the former senator’s appearance at an April 15 event in Huila to give the politician a card containing a microchip, making it possible to track the target’s movements. EFE