BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A bomb exploded Tuesday near a bridge that crosses Colombia's border with Venezuela, injuring at least four police officers in the Colombian city of Cucuta, officials said.
Norte de Santander provincial Gov. William Villamizar said on X that police were investigating who was responsible for the attack.
The explosion was set off in front of the local branch of Colombia's tax collection agency near the Francisco de Paula de Santander International bridge. Footage of the aftermath showed a truck and several motorcycles that were damaged by the blast.
The attack comes as Colombia’s conservative government changes the nation’s security strategy and takes a more confrontational approach towards gangs and rebel groups.
After being sworn into office in August, President Abelardo de la Espriella cancelled peace talks with the nation’s remaining rebel groups, alleging that negotiations had yielded few results over the past four years, with armed groups using ceasefires with the government to strengthen their grip over rural areas.
De la Espriella, who goes by the nickname of “the Tiger,” has also re-established joint task forces aimed at protecting oil pipelines, and promised to tackle the cocaine trade by spraying coca fields with herbicides, a practice that was suspended in 2015 over health concerns.
Early on Tuesday morning, de La Espriella supervised an operation against gangs in Medellin, in which the government said it captured 135 people suspected of trafficking drugs and running human trafficking rings. In a video shared by de La Espriella’s office Tuesday, the president scolds some of the suspects captured by police.
“The party is over,” he tells a suspect. “You will see how hard the Tiger bites.”
Critics have accused de la Espriella of using law enforcement operations for propaganda purposes, and have expressed doubts about the capacity of Colombia’s armed forces to disarm rebel groups solely through the use of force -- without eventually returning to negotiations.
In Cucuta, next to the border with Venezuela, authorities are investigating the murder of a former deputy mayor, who was assassinated on Monday night while on his way home. In September, an attack on another police station in the border city killed a civilian and injured eleven people.
According to ACLED, a group that monitors conflicts around the world, state forces and illegal armed groups carried out 34 attacks with bombs or explosives in Colombia during the four-week period that ended on Oct. 16 — a 9% increase from last year's four-week average.
The figure includes drone attacks waged by rebel groups, and attacks with explosives like the one in Cucuta, but also airstrikes launched by the nation's military on rebel camps. Laura Calderón, an ACLED analyst, said that the government has increased its use of airstrikes since August, when de la Espriella took office.
“The government is changing its strategy," Calderón said. “And the armed groups are also changing theirs.”
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Police inspect the site where a bomb exploded near the International Francisco de Paula Santander bridge border with Venezuela, in Cucuta, Colombia, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Mario Caicedo)
Police inspect the site where a bomb exploded near the International Francisco de Paula Santander bridge border with Venezuela, in Cucuta, Colombia, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Mario Caicedo)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior State Department official said Tuesday that Flávio Bolsonaro and his family will be granted U.S. visas after his weekend loss to incumbent Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a hotly contested race that bucked a trend of conservative electoral results in Latin America.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to visa privacy laws, said “the State Department will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States.”
Bolsonaro, who had President Donald Trump’s tacit support, had been under investigation for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in Brazil and had been ordered to surrender his passport.
The State Department official did not say if Bolsonaro had already left Brazil or if he and his family were en route to the U.S.
A spokesperson for Bolsonaro did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday; his campaign manager Rogério Marinho also refused to comment.
Bolsonaro’s brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lives in Texas, had publicly encouraged him to leave Brazil if he lost the election.
Bolsonaro has touted his relationship with Trump and visited the White House in May. The family connections go deeper: Brother Eduardo Bolsonaro was convicted in absentia in June of illegally lobbying the Trump administration and sentenced to four years in prison. A warrant was recently issued for his arrest.
Trump did not offer a full-throated endorsement of Bolsonaro in the runoff against Lula, as he has with some other right-of-center candidates in Latin America. But he suggested on Monday, without providing evidence, that Brazil’s election was “rigged.”
Bolsonaro's decision to leave Brazil came as a deadline for him to surrender his regular and diplomatic passports expired at noon Tuesday. It remained unclear whether he had complied.
Bolsonaro was served with the order to surrender his passports Monday, a day after his stunning loss. Bolsonaro said he received it outside the home where his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup following his 2022 election loss to Lula. After that defeat, Jair Bolsonaro fled Brazil for Florida. He returned three months later.
The sealed Supreme Court order, viewed by The Associated Press, was issued Sunday. Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat and has made unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.
Bolsonaro initially asked for the election results to be annulled after an evening of chaos at some polling places that prompted authorities to extend voting by two hours.
On Monday, he urged the electoral court to investigate alleged election fraud and nullify Lula's and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin's candidacies, which the electoral court has never done before.
“I never thought about leaving the country,” Bolsonaro said in a video published on his social media channels. "I will hand over my passports and I will defend myself from this aberration. It is a clear attempt to intimidate me. But I will not be silenced."
To overturn the result, Bolsonaro would have to present evidence of fraud affecting Lula's 4.4 million-vote margin and convince the eight-member electoral court before the results are certified on Dec. 18.
Lula, who turned 81 on Tuesday, received more than 64 million votes, compared with fewer than 60 million for Bolsonaro, a margin of nearly 4%.
Bolsonaro said in a video posted Monday on his social media channels that he had no plans to leave Brazil and instead was attempting to organize opposition among his congressional colleagues to the election results. His eight-year term as a senator expires Jan. 31, 2027, which will also cause him to lose special jurisdiction at the country's Supreme Court.
Bolsonaro is under investigation by Brazil's Supreme Court for alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in two cases. In one, he's accused of using a sports betting company to launder fraudulent deductions from government pensions paid to senior citizens. In the other, he is accused of accepting millions of dollars from a disgraced banker.
He has denied any wrongdoing in both cases, and has claimed Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is heading one of the investigations, is a Lula ally. Prosecutors suspect the funds from the banker were used to pay his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro’s, expenses and to promote Flávio Bolsonaro’s political agenda with the Trump administration, documents show.
Mauricio Marcon, a lawmaker of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, also questioned de Moraes’ objectivity on Tuesday. “Seven minutes after the election, Alexandre de Moraes ordered his passports to be seized,” Marcon said. Bolsonaro "will represent us in a free country. He will continue to be our leader."
Brazilians had earlier taken to social media to ask where Bolsonaro was. Reporters gathered outside his home in the capital, Brasilia, but he did not appear.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Security of Argentina denied reports the Brazilian senator had entered the country. Brazilian media outlets reported that many Bolsonaro allies had been unable to reach him.
Paulo Figueiredo, a close ally of Bolsonaro's who lives in the United States, was asked about the senator's whereabouts and did not answer directly.
“At this moment — following months of intense work that were unfairly thwarted — I have no desire to speak with the press. I kindly ask that you do not persist. Should I have a statement to make on any matter, I will reach out,” Figueiredo said.
Savarese reported from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro arrives at his election night event after the presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026.(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
