Colombian government offers reward for finding bombers of military base in Cúcuta

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Colombian government offered a reward of 500 million pesos (about US$135,000) for finding those responsible for the terrorist attack with a car bomb that yesterday left 36 wounded in a military base in the city of Cúcuta, bordering Venezuela.

“A reward of 500 million pesos has been placed to find the material and intellectual authors of this act,” said Colombian President Iván Duque, who last night visited the headquarters of the Army’s Thirtieth Brigade, where the attack was perpetrated.

According to Defense Minister Diego Molano yesterday, a white van loaded with explosives entered the military installation with two men who impersonated gpvernment officials. Shortly after, two explosions occurred.

However, the attorney general, Francisco Barbosa, advised today that only one person was in the vehicle and parked for a little more than two hours in the base until the first explosion occurred.

“Once this person entered, he parked the vehicle in a place and kept it until 2.45 (in the afternoon); I repeat, from 12.35 to 2.45, the van was parked. Subsequently, this subject leaves the military headquarters (…), and at 3:01 the first explosion occurs after the vehicle is moved”, said Barbosa in a press conference.

In the base, there was a small group of U.S. military personnel who were not injured, according to the U.S. embassy.

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In that sense, President Duque also announced the creation of a special criminal group, supported by the FBI, that will be in charge of the investigation.

HYPOTHESES ABOUT THE ATTACK

According to information from the Ministry of Defense, the first hypothesis about the attack points to a National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla force; however, whether FARC dissidents were involved is also being investigated.

In the department of Norte de Santander, whose capital is Cúcuta, there is a strong presence of the ELN, FARC dissidents, and other criminal groups fighting for control of coca crops and drug trafficking routes.

“In the department and the city of Cúcuta, we are going to double the surveillance control points, as well as search and monitoring,” Duque explained about the measures to reinforce security in the area.

The explosions, which could be seen from neighboring neighborhoods, especially affected an office area which, according to some military personnel, was empty since part of the brigade’s personnel, attached to the Army’s Second Division, is in quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The way the attack was perpetrated is similar to the one committed on January 17, 2019, by the ELN, which exploded a car bomb at the General Santander Police Cadet School in Bogotá, in which 22 cadets died along with an Ecuadorian woman, and 67 other people were injured.