A terrorist attack on the Pan-American Highway causes at least 14 deaths and almost 40 injuries

At the beginning of this Saturday afternoon a bomb exploded on the main highway in southwestern Colombia, the Pan-American highway, in its section in the . Several vehicles were affected by the explosive device, which killed at least 14 people and injured 38, as reported by the governor of the department of Cauca, Octavio Guzmán, on social networks. The attack occurred in an area called El Túnel in the municipality of Cajibío. The Army has announced that it is verifying the possibility that there are other bombs on the road, which connects Colombia and Venezuela with the rest of South America. President Gustavo Petro has named alias Marlon, one of the dissident leaders of the extinct FARC commanded by Iván Mordisco, the group that the president has turned into his main military objective.

Governor Guzmán regretted the deadly attack. It is “an indiscriminate attack against the civilian population that, preliminarily, leaves 7 civilians dead and more than 20 seriously injured. It is a tragedy that tears us apart as a department and deeply mourns our families. There are not enough words for the pain we feel today.” The numbers of those affected have increased with the passing of the hours.

Shortly after the Extraordinary Security Council convened after the attack, the Popayán Mayor’s Office announced four measures to preserve public order: dry law, starting at 6 p.m., throughout the weekend; restriction of motorcycles from 11 at night to 5 in the morning indefinitely; Public and private events and gatherings are prohibited and a reward system is available for anyone who provides information about what happened. “These measures come into force immediately. We invite the entire community to abide by them,” they requested.

In the images that have been shared on social networks, the destruction of several vehicles is present, and even the bodies of the victims appear. At least three minibuses and a particular Nissan

Around three in the afternoon the president spoke out, pointing out not only Marlon as responsible, but also his group as being “terrorists, fascists and drug traffickers” who want “the extreme right and fascism to govern Colombia because they know that they do their cocaine and illicit gold business with them.” He does so in reference to those that will have their first round in five weeks, and in which the candidate of his party, the Historical Pact, Iván Cepeda (from a Caucasian family) competes with the ultra and the right-wing Paloma Valencia, from the party of former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez, also of Caucasian origin.

Cepeda reported late in the afternoon that the events of his electoral campaign and that of his presidential candidate, Aida Quilcué, were still underway. “I announce to the public that my campaign agenda continues without any alteration. I will continue making my national tour and in Bogotá without any change or cancellation,” he announced in X, after the false news from local media that announced the postponement of the scheduled events until further notice.

The candidate Valencia, however, interrupted her campaign events in Antioquia, in the northeast of the country, to travel to Palmira. But before traveling, the opponent sent a message in an electoral line that mirrors the president. “This is a government that is complicit with the violent; it leaves them free, like Calarcá, to put them on stage, to have parties in the prisons and to go out to plant bombs and kill us,” he said at a public event, in reference to Petro’s negotiation policy and the criticism that it has been adding to its limited progress in a four-year period that is approaching its end.

De la Espriella also expressed his rejection of the attack on social networks. He did so with a tweet in a similar sense to that of Valencia, but with a much more radical tone, as is typical of his political position. The criminal lawyer denounced that the southwestern part of the country “had been handed over to narcoterrorism” and promised that his eventual government would declare “those vermin that fill Colombian territory with fear, terror and carnage as a military objective.” “This is not with a lukewarm hand, nor with false peace, nor with more JEP or impunity: it is with the strength of the State that confronts crime,” he said.

The attack occurred the day after a failed attack against military installations in the city of Cali, about 100 kilometers to the north along that same highway, and an attack without victims against a battalion in Palmira, a little further to the northeast. In response to them, the Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez, announced a reward of 5,000 million pesos, around 1.2 million euros, for information leading to the capture of Marlon. “This is a cowardly display of weakness by a criminal structure whose main leader is a dangerous criminal,” he said from Palmira.

In the early morning, another device exploded further south, in the municipality of Mercaderes, targeting civilians. Other minor attacks without fatalities have been added in the last few hours, according to Guzmán, the regional president. “In the last few hours, actions have been recorded in El Túnel, El Tambo, Caloto, Popayán, Guachené, Mercaderes and Miranda. This is a direct offensive against life, against a defenseless people,” he wrote in X.

Similar offensives have occurred in the past in an area where several armed groups are present and especially the dissidents of the extinct FARC led by alias Iván Mordisco, declared by President Gustavo Petro as its main military objective.

A year ago, a similar attack on the Panamericana, in the Cauca town of Mondomo, and in March 2025, the Mordisco dissidents launched in different parts of the department. The road between Cali, the third city in Colombia, and Popayán, the capital of Cauca, thus becomes, at certain times, a road full of risks, which affects the economy of the impoverished department and also that of Nariño, further south and on the border with Ecuador.

Colombia faces the elections in the midst of growing violence, led by different armed groups that may be allies in one region and rivals in another. The push for illegal economies such as drug trafficking, illegal mining and extortion translates into increasingly high numbers of massacres (this Saturday’s attack is the 47th this year), child recruitment or forced confinement to different rural communities.