At least five police officers were killed and 41 were wounded this Saturday in an attack with explosives against a barracks in the Colombian city of Barranquilla, which was attributed at first to drug trafficking gangs.
This is one of the worst attacks committed in recent years against the security forces in one of the largest cities in Colombia, amid the government’s efforts to overcome an armed conflict of more than half a century, financed largely by drug trafficking.
The attack also overshadows the preparations for the popular Carnival held every year in this Caribbean city of almost 1.3 million inhabitants.
The police were attacked early in the day when they were in training at the command post in the San José neighborhood of Barranquilla, according to the local police commander, Mariano Botero. The attack was perpetrated by several men who apparently left a bomb inside the barracks and activated it remotely.
The deceased were between 24 and 31 years old and five of the injured are in critical condition.
A 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of being directly responsible for the crime, according to Attorney General Néstor Martínez.
President Juan Manuel Santos expressed his rejection of this action.
Total repudiation to the cowardly attack against @PoliciaBquilla station. We will not rest until we find those responsible. My solidarity goes with the families of the victims and injured,”
tweeted Santos.
Even Rodrigo Londoño, aka Timochenko, presidential candidate of the Alternative Revolutionary Common Force (the party that emerged from the peace agreement with the former guerrilla), condemned what happened by tweeting
We reject a forceful attack perpetrated against a police station in Barranquilla . All our solidarity with the families of deceased police and affected inhabitants.”
The authorities suspect that drug micro-trafficking organizations are behind the attack.
We don’t have the slightest doubt that this is retaliation for the many blows the police have been giving not only to the micro-trafficking of Barranquilla, but from the outside as well,”
said the mayor of the city, Alejandro Char.
General Botero also mentioned the possibility that this is a revenge of the organized crime after action against their assassins.
Colombia, which sealed peace with the FARC (the continent’s largest guerrilla), and tries to do the same with the last active rebel group, the ELN, has been facing drug trafficking for decades. The country is the world’s main producer and exporter of cocaine, and the mafias have flooded with drugs the main cities in what is known as “micro-trafficking”.
The maximum commander of the Colombian police, General Jorge Nieto, traveled to Barranquilla to show solidarity with his wounded men and the affected families. He also announced a reward of 50 million pesos (about 17,800 dollars) for information that leads to the clarification of the attack.