In Colombia, roads have always carried more than traffic.

They wind through mountains and jungle, through towns painted in bright colors and valleys marked by memory. Buses move between markets and cities. Trucks carry fruit, fuel, and stories. Along the Pan-American Highway, life moves in a long, unbroken line—until violence interrupts it, suddenly and without warning, leaving silence where engines once hummed.

This weekend, on a stretch of road in the southwestern department of Cauca, that silence arrived in flame.

A powerful bomb blast on the Pan-American Highway killed at least 21 people and injured more than 50 others, in one of the deadliest attacks against civilians in Colombia in decades. The explosion tore through buses, vans, and private vehicles in the El Túnel sector of Cajibío, leaving twisted metal, shattered glass, and a crater so large that local officials described it as a wound in the road itself.

The morning had begun ordinarily.

Passengers were traveling between cities. Families were on buses. Drivers moved slowly through the mountain roads. Then, according to military officials, assailants blocked traffic using a bus and another vehicle before detonating the explosive device at the height of congestion.

The force of the blast overturned cars.

It broke windows in homes nearby.

It turned a highway into a battlefield.

Cauca Governor Octavio Guzmán called it “the most brutal and ruthless attack against the civilian population in decades.” Among the dead were 15 women and six men, according to local authorities. Several children were among the wounded, though officials said many were out of immediate danger.

The attack comes just weeks before Colombia’s presidential election on May 31.

And in Colombia, elections have long been shadowed by violence.

Authorities have blamed the bombing on dissident factions of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, particularly the group led by Néstor Gregorio Vera Fernández—better known as Iván Mordisco—one of the country’s most wanted men. The faction is believed to finance itself through cocaine trafficking, extortion, and illegal mining, and has intensified attacks in recent days across Cauca and neighboring Valle del Cauca.

This bombing was not an isolated act.

Officials say at least 26 attacks have struck the region in the last two days, including drone strikes, shootings, and attacks on military and police positions. In nearby Cali, a military base was also targeted. Across southwestern Colombia, fear has begun to move faster than official statements.

President Gustavo Petro condemned the bombing in fierce terms, calling those responsible “terrorists, fascists, and drug traffickers.” He has ordered increased military deployments to Cauca and vowed a stronger response.

Yet the attack also strikes at the heart of Petro’s “total peace” policy.

The strategy, built on ceasefires and negotiations with armed groups, was meant to reduce bloodshed after decades of insurgency and narcotics-driven conflict. Critics now argue it has given rebel groups time to regroup, rearm, and reclaim territory.

The election campaign has become increasingly tense.

Candidates across the political spectrum have reported death threats and are campaigning under heavy protection. Security has become a central issue in the race, alongside questions of peace, justice, and how to confront Colombia’s many armed actors.

In towns along the highway, politics feels less abstract.

People sweep debris from storefronts.

Families search hospitals.

Drivers choose other roads.

The Pan-American Highway, usually a line of movement and trade, now holds the memory of smoke and sirens.

As night falls over Cauca’s green hills, the road lies broken in places.

The crater remains.

So does the fear.

And in a country that has spent years trying to leave its wars behind, the blast is a reminder that peace can still be fragile—easily shaken, easily broken, and sometimes shattered in a single moment on an ordinary road.

AI Image Disclaimer Illustrations were generated using AI tools and serve as conceptual representations of the events described.

Sources The Guardian Associated Press Reuters Al Jazeera BBC News