Colombia’s new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, began his first day in office under the shadow of violence, as two separate bombing attacks across the country left at least one police officer dead and several others wounded.
The tough-talking hard-right leader took office on Friday in the southwestern city of Cali after campaigning on confronting “narcoterrorism without truce” and halting peace talks with armed groups.
In the early hours, FARC guerrilla dissidents used explosives to destroy a motorway tollbooth near Cali, Colombia’s army said. Two security guards suffered minor injuries in the blast.
The tollbooth was under construction on the Pan-American motorway in the Santander de Quilichao municipality, an area where rebels commanded by Iván Morodisco — described by authorities as Colombia’s most wanted guerrilla commander — are known to operate.
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella condemned the bombing on social media
Morodisco leads dissidents who split from the historic 2016 peace agreement between the FARC and Colombia’s government, a deal that ended decades of conflict but did not fully dismantle armed activity in parts of the country.
De la Espriella condemned the attack in a post on X, writing that “attacking the country’s infrastructure is attacking progress.”
“To those responsible, I send a clear message: there will be no refuge, no leniency and no impunity,” he added.
‘Will not go unpunished’
Roughly 1,000km away, in the northern department of Cesar, officials said a police officer was killed when an explosive-equipped drone struck a police station in a separate bombing.
Authorities there have not yet identified suspects, but De la Espriella said whoever carried out the attack “will not go unpunished.”
The new leader’s confrontational approach — and his stated admiration for US President Donald Trump and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele — now meets a reality shaped by entrenched guerrilla groups and drug traffickers operating across Colombia.
Read more: Who is Colombia’s self-proclaimed ‘Tiger’ president?
De la Espriella has pledged to build mega-prisons like those championed by Bukele and to step up bombing raids against guerrilla groups and drug traffickers, with support from the United States and Israel.
He takes office as Colombia endures what officials describe as the country’s worst wave of violence in the past decade.
Ten years after the landmark peace accords, parts of Colombia remain under the sway of dissident armed groups tied to global cocaine production.
