At approximately 5.30am on August 12, 2010 in the heart of Bogota’s financial sector, a massive car bomb was detonated, ripping up and severely damaging the façades of nearby businesses. The worst hit, since the bomb was located outside their headquarters on Calle 67 and Carrera Septima, were the offices of Caracol Radio, one of Colombia’s leading media outlets.
Miraculously there were no deaths, principally due to the hour of the bombing which occurred just before rush hour.
Who is Responsible for the Car Bomb?
Two weeks on from the event, when the Chevrolet Swift, packed with explosives created havoc in central Bogota and along the Colombian Capital’s most travelled artery, the Carrera Septima, reports in the national daily newspaper El Tiempo, suggest that the authorities are tightening a net around various suspects.
From the outset, this atrocity, declared by new President Juan Manuel Santos as “cowardly terrorist act”, had seemingly no ties to any of the various warring factions in the country. There was no written or broadcast communiqué from either of the leftists groups, the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) or the ELN (National Liberation Army) that have both been involved in a bloody armed struggle against the Colombian establishment for nearly 50 years.
With no leads, the President of Congress Armando Benedetti expressed a fear that perhaps this car bomb was the work of ultra-right wing factions perhaps belonging to newly formed paramilitary groups linked to one or another of the drugs cartels. This would imply that the authors of the attack were either unhappy with the upcoming meeting with the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (the meeting took place in Santa Marta 10/08/10) or were acting on behalf of those under threat of extradition to the US for drug trafficking offences.
Two People Captured in Relation to the Car Bomb
As the authorities have worked day and night, pouring over the CCTV coverage of the area of the bombing, two Bogotanos have been captured. Gustavo Ladino is a known license plate forger and it was he who provided the false plates for the Chevrolet used in the bombing. More curious is the capture of Adelmo Lopez, now in a witness protection program, and cousin to Javier Lopez, a longtime suspect once captured in relation to FARC links in 2006.
Given the location, in the very centre of Bogota’s financial district where many multi-national firms and businesses have their headquarters, the reality is that the bomb could have been aimed at any one of them. The fact that the car bomb was placed outside the offices of Caracol Radio puts this media outlet in the spotlight as the presumed target.
History of Bombings in Bogota
For nearly 18 months Bogota has been free of bombings and the citizens of the Colombian capital have been reveling in this new-found and enjoyable security. It appeared that the former President Alvoro Uribe’s hardline approach to dealing with the guerrillas was paying off.
2009 Blockbuster Video Store was bombed in January leaving two people dead and countless damage.
2003 The exclusive Bogota club El Nogal was destroyed in a huge bomb that left almost 40 people dead.
Richard McColl - I am a freelance writer from deepest darkest London but for the past 10 years or so I have been maintaining my extended "writing break" in ...
