A Colombian presidential candidate from a small left-leaning political party came under fire as she was out campaigning on the road on Sunday. Aida Avella of the Patriotic Union Party currently carries only 1 or 2 percent in the most recent polls, but it was apparently enough popularity to make her a target.

The candidate's convoy was fired on as it traveled through the northeastern region of the country. Avella's vehicle was not hit in the incident; however, another vehicle in the convoy was hit 14 times.

The Associated Press reports that the convoy was approached by gunmen on motorcycles, and that Avella said she was actually unaware of what was happening until after the whole thing was over. She was apparently the victim of an attempted kidnapping, but the perpetrators opened fire on the motorcade after they were unable to stop the vehicles on the roadway.

Avella spent 17 years in Switzerland following an earlier attempt on her life by someone firing a rocket-propelled grenade at the vehicle she was traveling in.

According to Reuters, Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon blamed the ELN (National Liberation Army), Colombia's second-largest armed rebel group, which has been battling the government for decades, for the attack. He told reporters that police and military intelligence had overheard conversations about the attack coming from rebel leaders.

"In a specific manner, they talk about how the 12-vehicle convoy mobilized, how they tried to stop the presidential candidate's convoy and when they could not, they opened fire," Pinzon said.

The ELN emphatically denies any involvement with the attack, saying that they are united with Avella in their cause. The group indirectly lays blame for the incident on the "oligarchs" that currently hold political power in the country.

"The ELN condemns the vile attack on the candidate Aida Avella and expresses its solidarity with her and her political movement as well as all political and social movements critical of the current system, which are in the crosshairs of state terrorism, and invites them to demand security to continue to persist on the path of democracy and peace," the group said on their website.