Q24N – Colombia seems to be turning back to its old ways, as violence is spiking in the country, one year before the presidential elections.
A truck bomb, drones, and rifles: Colombia experienced a bloody day on Thursday with two attacks that left 18 dead and dozens injured in the worst onslaught by armed groups in the last decade.
Around 3:00 pm local time, a truck loaded with explosives exploded on a busy street in Cali, the country’s third most populous city.
The attack on a military aviation school left six dead and more than 60 injured, according to the latest reports. The mayor’s office ordered the militarization of the city.
Images spread on social media show burning vehicles, destroyed homes, injured people on the ground, and people fleeing in terror amid the sound of alarms and screams.
The government blamed the attack on the largest FARC dissident group, known as the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), led by alias Iván Mordisco.
Hours earlier, a police helicopter was shot down in the department of Antioquia in northern Colombia, killing 12 officers and injuring several others.
The national police Black Hawk helicopter was transporting personnel to the rural Amalfi area to eradicate a coca leaf crops, the raw material used to make cocaine.
Antioquia governor Andres Julian said in a post on X that a drone attacked the helicopter as it flew over coca leaf crops.
In a later post, he asked why authorities had failed to rescue the injured and recover the bodies of the dead nine hours after the helicopter downing.
On August 11, the right-wing favorite, Miguel Uribe, died after being shot in the head.
The two dissident groups involved, at odds with each other, rejected the peace agreement signed in 2016 with the main FARC force.
The north of Cali was in chaos on Thursday afternoon.
Hours after the terrorist attack in Cali, authorities neutralized a suspect. At the time of writing, El Tiempo reported that the individual’s background was being analyzed, along with images and connections.
The Colombian newspaper reported that the man was a 26-year-old wearing blue overalls and coughing up blood. He was restrained by civilians, and videos showed him being beaten while they accused him of operating the explosive vehicle.
In addition to him, another individual dressed in a similar outfit was detained by the police to verify his possible connection to the attack.
Reactions from Colombian leaders and political sectors
Colombian President Gustavo Petro held a minute of silence in tribute to the victims and described the events as a reaction by the Central General Staff (EMC)—a faction led by alias “Iván Mordisco”—against the military operations that are weakening its influence.
He stated that his government will declare the Gulf Clan, the country’s main criminal gang, and two dissident groups of the former FARC, the EMC and the Segunda Marquetalia, as “terrorist” organizations.
The head of the Ministry of the Interior, Armando Benedetti, announced that urgent strategies will be activated to dismantle the criminal networks responsible for the attacks, strengthening security in the territories.
On social media, political leader Sergio Fajardo harshly questioned the government’s security management: “How many more bombs? How many more deaths? … Wake up.”
Presidential candidate Juan Manuel Galán expressed solidarity with the victims and demanded a clear and forceful government strategy to combat violence: “This cowardly attack (…) plunges the country into mourning.”
Efraín Cepeda, a former senator and conservative leader, denounced the situation as a serious failure of the state, demanding strong intervention and lamenting the escalation of violence and the apparent government inaction.
Colombia faces surge in armed violence
Colombia is in the midst of a dramatic surge in violence from armed conflict less than 10 years after the 2016 peace deal between the government and FARC.
The lucrative drug trade is one of the reasons driving this rising violence.
Coca leaf cultivation is on the rise in Colombia, one of the world’s leading cocaine producers.
The area under cultivation reached a record 253,000 hectares in 2023, according to the latest report available from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.