During the Pablo Escobar era, Colombia experienced one of its most violent times. Car bombs became the norm and signature attacks for drug lords and rebel groups as they released terror and killed hundreds of Colombians. Most attacks were aimed towards the government and the police.
Last Thursday, Colombia was brought back to the past when a car bomb exploded in front of a police academy in the Bogota, the country’s capital, leaving 21 people dead.
José Aldemar Rojas Rodríguez, suspect of the car bomb and member of the National Liberation Army, the largest leftist guerrilla group remaining in Colombia was killed during the attack according to the Colombian government.
The National Liberation Army or ELN has yet to claim responsibility for the attack but after their rivals, the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) signed a peace deal in 2016 they have increased their attacks against the government.
The attack near the General Santander National Police Academy also left 68 people injured and the Colombian people in fear that an era they thought they had left behind was coming back.
President Ivan Duque has labeled the attack as a “miserable terrorist attack” and declared a three-day mourning period across the country.
José Aldemar Rojas Rodríguez neared the compounds in his grey Nissan Patrol, at the checkpoint he accelerated and hit a wall exploding the car as a promotion ceremony for the cadets was being held.
Attorney General Néstor Humberto Martínez told reporters that the vehicle was carrying 176 lbs. of powerful explosive pentolite.
During the last, year the ELN has kidnapped two military contractors, four soldiers and attacked oil pipelines. According to Jairo Libreros, a security analyst who tracks the group, with this latest attack the ELN has derailed any peace talks that were occurring between them and the government.