At the very least 11 individuals have been wounded in a Colombian automotive bombing, days earlier than right-wing President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella is about to take workplace.
The detonation occurred within the metropolis of Cucuta, which borders Venezuela, on Saturday, six days earlier than de la Espriella is about to switch outgoing President Gustavo Petro, the nation’s first left-wing chief.
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“Presently, we’ve eight cops and three civilians who’ve been injured,” George Quintero, the safety secretary for the division of Norte de Santander, instructed reporters.
No teams instantly claimed duty for the assault. A number of insurgent teams, together with the Nationwide Liberation Military (ELN) and dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), stay energetic within the space, as is the felony group Clan del Golfo.
In a submit on the social media platform X, de la Espriella mentioned he condemned “within the strongest phrases the cowardly terrorist assault carried out in Cucuta in opposition to our Nationwide Police”.
“Terrorism won’t intimidate Colombia or break Colombians’ dedication to stay in peace and safety,” he mentioned.
For greater than six many years, Colombia has grappled with an inner armed battle, which has seen left-wing insurgent teams, right-wing paramilitaries, authorities forces and felony teams conflict for energy.
The battle — and Colombia’s standing as the highest cocaine producer on this planet — took centre stage in de la Espriella’s race to be president.
The election season was marred by political violence, as insurgent teams had been accused of staging dozens of assaults with bombs and explosive-laden drones.
In 2025, right-wing presidential hopeful and senator Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot within the head at an occasion in Bogota. He died a month later from his accidents.
His mom, journalist Diana Turbay, was famously killed as a part of Colombia’s inner battle in 1991, after she was kidnapped by felony forces.
De la Espriella, who was set to take workplace on August 7, has promised to crack down on insurgent teams and felony organisations, each of which depend on the nation’s cocaine commerce.
The millionaire lawyer and businessman has by no means earlier than held public workplace in Colombia.
However his right-wing marketing campaign was backed by the administration of US President Donald Trump, who has clashed with the outgoing president, Petro, over issues of regional safety.
Trump has advocated for a militaristic method to felony exercise within the Americas, whereas framing drug traffickers as “narcoterrorists” who threaten US nationwide safety.
The election of de la Espriella represents a serious ideological pivot from Petro, who has sought a peace-through-dialogue method to resolve the armed battle.
Petro additionally tried to pivot away from the US-led “conflict on medication” method, focusing his authorities’s enforcement efforts on intercepting main drug routes.
He and Trump clashed over his determination to shift away from concentrating on impoverished, small-scale farmers who develop coca, the uncooked materials for cocaine, in addition to conventional Andean teas and drugs.
Against this, de la Espriella has pledged to additional develop Colombia’s army alliance with the US.
He has additionally echoed hardline methods championed by Trump and different right-wing figures like Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, pledging to construct megaprisons and bomb suspected drug traffickers.
“Any aircraft that takes off loaded with medication — as commander-in-chief, I’ll order the Air Drive to shoot it down,” de la Espriella instructed The Related Press throughout his marketing campaign.
“Any boat that units out loaded with medication, I’ll order it sunk with the individuals on board.”
The president-elect has lengthy warned of an energetic assassination plot in opposition to him. He had initially sought to be sworn in at a army garrison within the conflict-hit division of Cauca. Petro didn’t authorise the plan.
He’ll as a substitute be sworn in on the Metropolis Corridor in Bogota, in a ceremony set to incorporate 11,000 troopers and cops.
