President Virgilio Barco blamed a truck bombing that killed 40 people in the capital on drug traffickers and pledged not to allow Colombian democracy to succumb to their "bloody tyranny."
Barco went on national television Wednesday night after 1,100 pounds of dynamite were detonated in front of the offices of the secret police in Bogota, gouging out a 20-foot-deep crater and wounding hundreds of people.It was one of the worst terrorist attacks in Colombian history.
"In the last few days, the criminal organization of drug traffickers has begun a vile assault that has cost the lives of many innocent Colombians," Barco said.
Three more bombs exploded in the cocaine-trafficking center of Medellin just before the speech was transmitted from Tokyo, where Barco was on a state visit. The bombs, targeting an LDS church, an evangelical church and an electronics shop, caused only slight damage and no injuries, police said.
Barco said the bombing at federal intelligence police headquarters was part of a string of attacks by drug gangs intended to force the government to stop extraditing to the United States traffickers indicted by U.S. authorities.
He said traffickers also were responsible for the Nov. 27 bombing of a Colombian jetliner that killed all 107 people aboard as well as for Tuesday's assassination of a Medellin judge.
He said the country's resolve to battle traffickers would not waver as a result of their terrorist onslaught.
"They will not succeed in defeating us," he said. "We are fighting and will continue to fight. We will not allow ourselves to fall to the bloody tyranny of the narcoterrorists."
The Extraditables, a group linked to the powerful Medellin cocaine cartel, claimed responsibility for the truck bombing at intelligence police headquarters.
The morning rush hour explosion killed at least 40 people and wounded about 1,000. Photographs showed extensive damage in a two-square-mile area.
The explosion caused $23 million worth of damage to about 1,500 houses and buildings, including nearby Justice Ministry offices.
The Extraditables said in their message that they would continue the terrorist campaign until the Senate approves a national referendum on the country's extradition policy.