11 injured in Colombia bombing days before presidential inauguration / Photo: Schneyder Mendoza - AFP
11 injured in Colombia bombing days before presidential inauguration
At least 11 people were injured Saturday when a truck packed with explosives detonated next to a Colombian police station near the border with Venezuela, six days before President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella's inauguration.
AFP reporters saw the vehicle in flames, damaged building facades and police, soldiers and residents gathering around the scene of the attack in the northern city of Cucuta before local security officials confirmed the number of injured.
"At this time, we have eight police officers and three civilians who have been injured," George Quintero, security secretary for the department of Norte de Santander where the attack occurred, told reporters.
"This was an atrocious, violent act... and what happened is regrettable."
De la Espriella condemned the bombing "in the strongest terms," adding that "terrorism will not intimidate Colombia."
Authorities are offering a reward equivalent to more than $32,000 for information leading to the capture of those responsible.
The right-wing De la Espriella will take office on August 7 in the city of Cali, succeeding Gustavo Petro, the first leftist president in the country's history.
With the support of US President Donald Trump's government, the millionaire lawyer promised to intensify the fight against guerrillas and other drug trafficking organizations fueling the country's worst wave of violence in a decade.
Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine.
To achieve his objectives, De la Espriella plans to forge a military alliance with the United States and Israel.
Petro is spending his last days in office on a visit to Cuba and has so far not commented on the attack.
The Colombian president traveled Friday to Havana to speak with his counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel about the United States' "policy of strangulation" against the island, as well as the Trump administration's attacks on vessels in the Caribbean allegedly involved in drug trafficking.
The new government will mark a political shift in Colombia following four years in which the left-wing administration unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate peace with armed groups and promoted a paradigm shift in the fight against drug trafficking -- contrary to Trump's policies.
Presidential inaugurations are traditionally held at the Congress building in Bogota, but the president-elect requested that the ceremony be moved to Cali, in the country's southwest, a region plagued by clashes between drug trafficking gangs and guerrillas.
De la Espriella's inauguration will involve one of the largest security deployments planned for the ceremony, with around 11,000 soldiers and police officers carrying out operations on land, at sea and in the air.
The president-elect had initially sought to be sworn in at a military garrison in the conflict-hit department of Cauca, but Petro did not authorize the plan.
Guerrilla groups have issued warnings to De la Espriella, who plans to end the peace negotiations Petro had been conducting with various armed organizations.
The election campaign was marked by political violence and an escalation of the armed conflict involving bombs, explosive-laden drones and attacks against security forces.
In 2025, right-wing presidential hopeful and senator Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot at an event in Bogota and later died.
De la Espriella has repeatedly alleged the existence of a plot to assassinate him.
O.Sethi--MT
