Car Bomb and Drone-Dropped Explosive Rattle Colombia Day After Hardline President's Inauguration

August 8, 2026 — One day after far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in as Colombia's president on a platform of ending Petro's 'Total Peace' policy, two explosive attacks struck the country. A car bomb detonated at a tollbooth on the Pan-American Highway in Cauca province, injuring two security guards, while in Cesar province a police officer, Argemiro Rodelo Canchila, was killed by an explosive device dropped from a drone at a police substation. Colombia's military attributed the attacks to armed groups that splintered from the demobilized FARC. De la Espriella's government vowed a militarized response, framing the attacks as vindication of his campaign pledge to abandon negotiated settlement in favor of an 'iron fist' crackdown on the ELN and FARC dissident factions — a sharp reversal of the outgoing administration's simultaneous-negotiation strategy.