Brutal terrorist attack in Colombia exposes the standoff between armed groups and the state

An explosion rocked a road in the department of Cauca, in southwestern Colombia, last weekend, leaving at least 20 dead in one of the deadliest attacks against civilians in Colombia’s violent history. The attack, attributed to the front commanded by alias Iván Mordisco — leader of the main dissident group of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) — is not an isolated incident: it is the latest chapter in an ongoing power struggle between armed groups and the Colombian state, and a direct blow to the “total peace” platform on which President Gustavo Petro came to power.

The blast was heard for miles around. An explosive device detonated Saturday afternoon on the Pan-American Highway, the main road in the southwest of the country. The attack left a 200-cubic-meter crater, the highway strewn with twisted wreckage, and bodies that took hours to recover in a difficult-to-access area historically controlled by armed groups. The latest death toll was released on Sunday: 20 civilians dead, 15 women and 5 men, all adults. Another 36 people were injured, including three who remain in intensive care, and five minors who are out of danger. Despite the severity of the attack, the country has continued with its usual, fast‑moving news cycle.

From the outset, responsibility for Saturday’s bombing was attributed to structures led by Iván Mordisco, the commander of a faction of the former FARC that never signed the peace agreement and has turned Colombia’s southwest into its stronghold.

President Petro’s immediate reaction was to call the criminals “terrorists, fascists, and drug traffickers.” On his X account, he argued that these groups aim to bring the far right back to power to protect their illicit economies, and called for an international crackdown on the organization. “I want the strongest possible global prosecution of this narco-terrorist group,” he said.

Seven hours later, Petro posted about his birthday celebration, surrounded by former members of the M19 guerrilla group. The photo of the group smiling, with flower garlands around their necks, triggered a wave of criticism from the opposition, which deemed it inappropriate.

However, in his presidential address Monday night, Petro went further, turning the attack in Cauca into a transnational issue. The president asked Colombian authorities to investigate his main hypothesis: that the explosives used in the attack came from Ecuador — as he says has happened in previous cases. He pointed to what he calls the “drug trafficking board,” a criminal structure allegedly based in Dubai that, from there, oversees the global cocaine trade and directs armed groups in Colombia.

Petro acknowledged that Colombia remains the world’s largest producer of cocaine, but argued that the drug is transported out through Ecuadorian ports. For that reason, he said, traffickers in the neighboring country have an interest in maintaining the supply chain. Their goal, he claimed, is to generate fear and chaos to sabotage the elections and pave the way for the far right to win in Colombia.

“The head of the Cauca fronts is not Iván Mordisco, who is second in command. It’s the entire drug trafficking board,” said Petro. During his speech, he displayed the complaint he filed with the International Criminal Court requesting an investigation into Mordisco for crimes against humanity, and added that he will seek to extend the accusation to all the leaders of the fronts operating in Cauca. He specifically mentioned Iván “Marlon” Jacobo Idrobo Arredondo, who is accused of orchestrating the weekend attack.

In the first four months of 2026, Colombia has already seen 48 massacres, with 229 fatalities, mostly civilians, according to the organization Indepaz. This is the highest figure in a decade. These numbers, which represent only part of the country’s violence, suggest that this election year is shaping up to be the most violent since the 2016 peace agreement with the now-defunct FARC.

Petro came to power in 2022 with an ambitious peace strategy that sought to negotiate simultaneously with the country’s main armed groups, leading to as many as 13 dialogue sessions. The talks have progressed in fits and starts, and most are now stalled or effectively abandoned.

As the government concluded that several armed actors had no real intention to negotiate, it intensified military operations. Under pressure from public opinion and the Armed Forces, Petro shifted back to an offensive posture. Iván Mordisco became the country’s most‑wanted man, and operations against his structure have escalated. Just a month ago, a military raid on one of the group’s camps left six people dead, including his security chief and partner who is known by the alias “Lorena.” The government also reinstated the use of artillery in early 2024 and resumed aerial bombings at the end of 2025.

These decisions have been controversial, especially among Petro’s left‑wing allies, because several minors — children recruited as fighters by criminal groups — have been killed in the attacks. It is the response of the most left‑leaning government in Colombia’s recent history to an enemy that, paradoxically, forces it to speak the language of hardline security.

“The attack is part of an armed group’s reaction to army operations,” explains an analyst involved in the peace process who asked to remain anonymous. Mordisco, he recalls, “has been hit very hard throughout the last year.” And Cauca, where the attack took place, is the area where it maintains “very strong, very vigorous” structures.

The targeting of civilians — which the analyst described as “insane operations” — follows a strategic logic: “To damage the government, attack the region’s social and Indigenous leadership, and, above all, undermine the prospects for continuity of the country’s political process.” It’s not just about killing, but about sowing chaos, about making peace — partial or total — unviable just five weeks before the first round of the presidential election.

Experts agree that destabilizing the country is part of the strategy armed groups use to ensure their survival. The main hypothesis of Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office regarding the assassination of presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay nearly a year ago is that it was an attempt by another FARC dissident faction, the Segunda Marquetalia, to shake the foundations of the state. Pushing the country into conflict weakens state institutions and allows armed groups to continue dominating the lucrative illicit economies that sustain them.

The clashes between criminal groups and the Colombian state are concentrated in specific regions most affected by the armed conflict, where territorial disputes leave tens of thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire. These areas also contain extensive coca and marijuana crops, as well as illegal gold‑mining operations. All of them have experienced cycles of violence in recent years — periods of escalation followed by relative calm. Colombia is always on high alert.

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