On the Radar: ELN Bombing in Colombia Days Before New President Takes Office

How are Colombia’s armed groups positioning themselves as a new, hard-line president takes power?

Is gang violence spreading from Ecuador’s coasts into the capital?

And can a five-country crackdown make a dent in the criminal economies destroying the Amazon?

This week’s top three organized crime stories in On the Radar.

Bomb Attributed to the ELN Wounds 14 in Cúcuta, Colombia

A truck loaded with explosives detonated outside a police command post in Cúcuta, Colombia, on the Venezuelan border, wounding 11 police officers and three civilians, according to Colombian authorities, who attributed the attack to an urban front of the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN). The bombing coincided with near-simultaneous attacks on a police commander’s convoy and a congressman’s home in the same region, authorities reported. Authorities also foiled another attack in Cali, allegedly planned by the Central General Staff (Estado Mayor Central – EMC).

The attacks come just days before the August 7 swearing-in of Abelardo de la Espriella as Colombia’s president. The president-elect has vowed to break with predecessor Gustavo Petro’s approach of negotiating peace with the country’s criminal groups. Instead, de la Espriella gave armed groups an ultimatum: they had one month—ending when he takes office—to surrender or face the full force of the military.

Ecuador Deploys 4,000 Security Forces to Quito

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced the deployment of 4,000 additional police and military personnel to Quito, days after police found a decapitated body hanging from a bridge there—a gruesome display more commonly associated with the country’s most violent cities, Durán and Guayaquil.

The move suggests the extreme violence long concentrated on Ecuador’s coast may be creeping into the capital, potentially a sign of gangs pushing into new territory as they fight for control of trafficking routes. During his tenure, Noboa has taken a hardline approach to combatting Ecuador’s criminal groups, with limited success.

Five Amazon Countries Wrap Up Environmental Crime Blitz

Authorities from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru concluded Operation Green Shield 2026, deploying more than 3,600 officers to combat various environmental crimes across the Amazon basin between July 15 and 31. The operation, coordinated from Bogotá, led to 839 arrests and the seizure of 280,000 cubic meters of illegally logged timber, 195 metric tons of minerals and mining equipment, and thousands of trafficked animals.

Criminal networks are key drivers of environmental destruction in Latin America and the Caribbean, cashing in on global demand for gold, timber, and land. Green Shield shows what coordinated enforcement can achieve, though the criminal economies it targets remain deeply entrenched.