Security update
October 15: 4 dead in a bus on the Pan-American, and drones attack police in Huila
Here's what happened since the last update, and what each one means.
14 dead in a bus on the Pan-American, and the driver says they were shot at
Early on Thursday, October 15, a bus carrying at least 60 passengers left the Pan-American Highway and overturned in Timbío, Cauca. 4 people died and 56 were hurt. Semana reports the passengers were foreigners traveling from Paraguachón, La Guajira, to Tumbes, Peru. The driver told Timbío's volunteer fire chief, Lt. José Urbano, that a man in a pickup truck with what looked like a long gun threatened them and fired at them, and the driver lost control. The fire chief said the driver was apparently confronted by road robbers. The authorities haven't confirmed the shooting. The critical patients were moved to Popayán because the Timbío hospital couldn't handle them all.
What it means for usTimbío's fire chief says the Las Cruces 2 and Río Las Piedras stretches have had many robberies in recent days. Timbío is on the Pan-American just south of Popayán, the main road to Ecuador.
2Drones attack a police station in Huila
In the early afternoon of Thursday, October 15, the police station in Palermo, Huila, was attacked with explosives dropped by drones. According to preliminary information, 2 police officers were wounded, with minor injuries, and were taken to the Hospital San Francisco de Asís. The mayor's office was evacuated. No group has been named, and the authorities are investigating.
What it meansSemana counts 7 drone attacks in Huila this year. This one came a day after drones wounded 9 soldiers in Chocó. According to Semana, Chocó's governor, Nubia Carolina Córdoba, says drones like these are beyond what the regions can handle.
39 dissidents captured in Bugalagrande, with a drone grenade
On October 15, the president announced that the police, with the Army, the Air Force and the Fiscalía, captured 9 members of Front 57 "Yair Bermúdez", a FARC dissident group, in Bugalagrande, Valle del Cauca. He says they're accused of forced recruitment of minors (reclutamiento ilícito) and conspiracy. Among them are alias "Majiño", a commission leader in Valle who is reportedly on Nariño's most-wanted list, and alias "Bastidas". The police seized 12 cell phones, a laptop, 9 containers of black powder and a homemade mortar grenade adapted to be dropped from a drone.
What it meansThis is the second hit on Front 57 this week. Earlier this week, the Army killed one of its members in Tuluá. The drone grenade shows Front 57 has drone weapons, the kind used against soldiers and police this week.
4A Gulf Clan zone commander captured in Antioquia
Infobae reported on October 15 that troops of the Army's Jungle Battalion No. 57, with the police, captured alias "Doble Cero" in El Pato, Zaragoza, Antioquia. The capture date wasn't given. The authorities say he was a zone leader of the Uldar Cardona Rueda substructure of the Gulf Clan (Clan del Golfo), with more than 10 years in the group. They link him to the kidnapping and killing of a minor in Segovia in August 2024, 2 attacks on the security forces in Zaragoza in April 2025, and the kidnapping of 8 people in Anorí in September 2026. According to preliminary information, 3 of those 8 were killed.
What it meansThe Army accuses his substructure of extortion, forced displacement and forced recruitment in Zaragoza and El Bagre. The kidnapping in Anorí was last month, so this case is still open.
51,460 kilos of cocaine at sea, and 13 arrests in La Guajira
The Navy stopped a speedboat in the central Pacific headed for Costa Rica, with intelligence from police counter-narcotics and support from US Southern Command's task force (JIATF-South). A preliminary test found 1,460 kilos of cocaine. 3 Colombians were arrested. Also on Thursday, the military, the police and the Fiscalía captured 13 people in Maicao and Manaure, La Guajira, and Palmito, Sucre, in an operation against a transnational drug network. The president says alias "Isen" was its leader, and that the network sent cocaine to the Caribbean, Central America, the United States and Europe and pressured Wayuu indigenous communities to take part.
What it meansThe US already works inside Colombia's counter-drug operations through intelligence, as in this case at sea. The Wayuu claim is the president's. The news report on the arrests doesn't mention it.
62 foreigners dead after a music festival in Medellín
2 foreign visitors died after the EDC electronic music festival in Medellín on October 10 and 11. Ismael Gerardo Méndez Huertas, a 27-year-old Costa Rican, died early on Sunday, October 11. Ajay Bhatnagar, a 51-year-old Indian-British doctor, died on the afternoon of Monday, October 12. Preliminary reports link both deaths to intoxication and a possible mix of drugs and alcohol. The coroner's results (Medicina Legal) are pending. Health teams handled 107 intoxications among about 94,000 people. Medellín's security secretary, Manuel Villa: "The underlying debate is the irresponsible drug use of many." Separately, a 46-year-old Australian was stabbed 25 times early on October 11 in Laureles. He survived and is in serious condition. The motive hasn't been confirmed.
What it means for usThe drugs sold at big events in Medellín can kill. Villa wants the law changed so police can go after people who carry drugs under cover of the legal personal dose.
On social media
His post on the La Guajira network, at 12:16 PM, was his most-viewed of the day: 64,800 views, 3,200 likes and 101 replies by about 6:30 PM. His post on the 9 captured in Bugalagrande had 29,600 views and 1,800 likes. Supporters fill the replies on both, with low likes. "Keep destroying crime, Mr. President." (27 likes) One supporter pushed him on drones: "Brother, get on it with the drones, they're finishing off our security forces!" (12 likes) Another wants him to call the dissidents what they are: "Mr. President, there's no 'former FARC-EP', they're the same FARC as always. You have to call things what they are. The FARC is still armed and carrying out terrorism all over the country. That's the truth." (2 likes) A critic: "How sad, the poor man lending himself to these abuses against the innocent population." (1 like) His post on the Girón killing now has 52,000 views and 2,600 likes. At 4:52 PM he posted on 204 years of relations with the United States, without mentioning the report on US soldiers. Critics lead the replies on that one. As of about 6:30 PM, he hadn't posted about the Palermo drone attack or the bus in Timbío. The new theme: supporters asking him to act on the drones. This comes from the top replies on X, not a poll.
I support most of this. But it doesn't go far enough. These groups use any space they're given to reset and grow. They need to be crushed, not contained.