Satena’s president, Gen. Óscar Zuluaga, said that communication between the crew and air traffic control was normal. The aviation authority stated Wednesday that it had identified “permanent adverse weather conditions” at the crash site. Among the passengers was congress member Diógenes Quintero, who represented the victims of the internal armed conflict in his region and was seeking reelection in the upcoming legislative elections in March. Quintero was a renowned human rights defender in the Catatumbo region, where he served as the regional ombudsman before becoming a congressman. A lawyer by profession, he was elected in 2022 as one of 16 representatives in the lower chamber to represent the more than 9 million victims of Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict.