Truck Bomb Near a Colombian Army Base Kills 4, Including a 2-Month-Old, Days After a Motorcycle Bomb Killed a Police Officer

Aerial view of Planadas in Colombia's Tolima department (file photo). Photo: Felviper, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

An explosives-laden truck detonated near a military installation in Planadas, in Colombia’s Tolima department, on Sunday night, killing at least four people, including a 2-month-old baby, Tolima Governor Adriana Magali Matiz said, Anadolu Agency reported. “Attacking the civilian population and putting at risk the lives of our soldiers and the Tolima families is crossing a line that we will not tolerate,” Matiz wrote on X, according to BBC News. The blast damaged a nearby hospital, a pharmacy and several other buildings.

Key figures: 4 killed in the planadas bombing, including a 2-month-old · 17 injured, per colombia’s health ministry · 900 cuban pesos per u.s. dollar on the informal market

Colombia’s Health Ministry said the attack killed four people and injured 17, and that one of the explosive devices hit the pharmacy area of the town’s hospital, forcing an evacuation, Caracol Radio reported. The ministry blamed dissident factions of the former FARC guerrilla group. “Nobody in health care should have to risk their life to save the lives of others,” said Health Minister Ana María Vesga. No armed group had claimed responsibility, Anadolu reported, and the army’s Fifth Division called the bombing a “terrorist act” and a “serious violation of human rights.”

Curfew and early reports of drones

Preliminary information indicated that a dump truck loaded with explosives was detonated in the Aeropuerto neighborhood near the base, and early reports also said explosive-laden drones were used, Caracol Radio reported. Mayor Juan Camilo Hueje declared a curfew and ordered the hospital evacuated, and the wounded were treated at the Domingo Savio school. Military commanders had attributed drone strikes in Planadas in August to the FARC dissident network, according to Anadolu.

President Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office in August and ended peace talks with some armed groups begun under his predecessor, Gustavo Petro, wrote that “we will not retreat, not even a millimetre,” BBC News reported. Armed groups have stepped up attacks on security forces in what appears to be retaliation for an offensive he ordered against them, the BBC said.

A motorcycle bomb in Huila

The Planadas attack came two days after a motorcycle bomb exploded around midnight Friday in Algeciras, in neighboring Huila department, killing police officer Julián Esmith Castaño López and wounding six people, Colombia’s Inspector General’s Office said, El Nacional reported, citing EFE. Castaño had served in the police for 20 years. The device had been left near a business in the town’s nightlife district and exploded while a police patrol was inspecting the area. De la Espriella condemned “the cowardly terrorist attack in Algeciras” and wished a quick recovery to “the two police officers and four citizens” who were wounded. In August, two soldiers were killed in an ambush in a rural area of Algeciras. A reported Venezuelan army bombing of an ELN camp in Apure state is covered in our report on the Apure bombing.

Venezuela’s new foreign minister in Washington

Secretary of State Marco Rubio scheduled a meeting with Venezuela’s new foreign minister, Oliver Blanco, at the State Department at 10 a.m. Monday, the first meeting between the two countries’ top diplomats since they restored diplomatic relations after the capture of Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. attack in Caracas in January, El Nacional reported, citing EFE. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez named Blanco foreign minister on Thursday, replacing Félix Plasencia. His earlier meeting with the top U.S. diplomat in Caracas is covered in our Oct. 31 report.

Cuba’s currency slides

The U.S. dollar reached 900 Cuban pesos on the informal market early Monday, according to the real-time tracker of the outlet El Toque, 14ymedio reported. The Central Bank of Cuba kept its official floating rate at 768 pesos per dollar. In Bayamo, prosecutors are seeking prison terms of up to five years for nine people charged over a May 23, 2025, protest of about 120 people who chanted “We want food, power and water,” 14ymedio reported.

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío told CBS News’ “60 Minutes” that the government has “a lot of responsibility” for the island’s crisis because “there could have been decisions that could have been better,” while also blaming the U.S. embargo, CiberCuba reported. Asked how the standoff with Washington could end, he said: “With a change of attitude from the United States.”

Elsewhere in the region, the Dominican Republic shipped supplies, weapons, specialized vehicles and support equipment from the port of Haina for the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force in Haiti, to help bring in a contingent from Bangladesh, Infobae reported. In Argentina, nearly 100 intellectuals, jurists, historians and politicians signed a declaration accusing President Javier Milei’s government of acting with “flagrant opportunism” amid tensions with Britain over the Sea Lion oil project near the Falkland Islands; the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea is due to hear Argentina’s request to halt Sea Lion in Hamburg on Nov. 10, MercoPress reported.

By the numbers

The informal dollar rate in Cuba has more than doubled this year. It stood at 435 pesos in early January, reached 800 on Oct. 15 and 840 a week before Monday’s 900, according to 14ymedio’s account of El Toque’s data. By The Boston Report’s calculation, the peso has lost about 52% of its value against the dollar since early January. More regional coverage is on our world news page.

Watch for Colombian authorities to identify those responsible in Planadas and Algeciras, any readout from the Rubio-Blanco meeting and the Nov. 10 Sea Lion hearing in Hamburg.

Sources

• Anadolu Agency: At least 4 killed in bombing near military base in Colombia: Governor
• BBC News: Baby among four killed in bomb attack in western Colombia, official says
• Caracol Radio: Ministerio de Salud rechaza ataque con explosivos contra la misión médica en Planadas, Tolima
• Caracol Radio: Atentado con explosivos en Planadas, Tolima deja cuatro muertos, entre ellos una bebé de 2 meses
• El Nacional: Atentado con motobomba dejó al menos un policía muerto y seis personas heridas en Colombia
• El Nacional: Marco Rubio y Oliver Blanco se reunirán este lunes en Washington
• 14ymedio: El dólar acelera su carrera imparable y alcanza los 900 pesos en el mercado informal
• 14ymedio: La Fiscalía pide hasta cinco años de cárcel por una protesta en Bayamo
• CiberCuba: Vicecanciller cubano admite ante CBS que el Gobierno tiene «mucha responsabilidad» en la crisis
• Infobae: República Dominicana envía equipos para la fuerza internacional desplegada en Haití
• MercoPress: Argentine intellectuals reject the Falklands “national cause” amid escalating tensions with London