A Violent Inaugural in Colombia

In an attack blamed on leftist rebels, mortars rained down on Colombia’s presidential palace and downtown neighborhoods Wednesday just moments before President Alvaro Uribe, who has vowed to crush the guerrillas, took the oath of office nearby.

Uribe swore before the nation’s Congress to restore order to the war-torn nation, apparently unaware that several blasts had just rocked historic downtown Bogota, killing at least 14 and wounding 69.

Neither Uribe nor any of the dozens of heads of state and diplomats attending the ceremony were injured. The U.S. delegation was headed by Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick and Ambassador Anne W. Patterson.

The attacks were a terrifying demonstration of how Colombia’s internal conflict, which pits leftist guerrillas against the army and right-wing paramilitary groups, is escalating. The explosions were a grim indication of the guerrillas’ power and a signal of the dark days ahead for Colombia, a nation racked by deepening anarchy, war and drug trafficking.

Panic reigned in the minutes after the explosions. Air force jets and military helicopters thundered overhead. Bodies lay twisted in rubble. Most of the dead, which included three children, were killed in a slum about 800 yards from the palace. Some buildings were left with gaping holes.

The hard-line president urged an end to the country’s nearly 40-year-old conflict even as ambulances and army soldiers rushed to scenes of destruction blocks away.

“Our idea of democratic security requires that we work to provide effective protection to all members of the public,” Uribe said. “A whole nation is crying out for respite and security.”

After the inauguration, Uribe left Congress and was immediately met on the steps by the nation’s top generals. As the nation watched on television, he calmly received news of the attacks in his first emergency security council meeting. Within hours, he delivered a proposed referendum to Congress, seeking greater powers for the executive branch to deal with the country’s conflict.

Authorities blamed the blasts on urban militias of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country’s largest guerrilla group, which frequently uses homemade bombs in its attacks.

Guerrillas have recently launched an all-out war against the symbols of South America’s oldest democracy, threatening mayors, congressmen and now the president himself.

The U.S. has become increasingly involved in the conflict, with Congress recently voting to allow military equipment previously devoted to combating drugs to be used in the battle against the rebels. Bush administration officials have promised that no ground troops would be sent to the embattled country, though military trainers are already in place.

Colombia has received nearly $2 billion in the last several years from the U.S., mostly to fight drug trafficking. Colombia produces 90% of the cocaine sold on U.S. streets. Thanks to profits from that trade, the guerrillas have grown dramatically over the last decade to a force of about 17,000. In the past, battles were mostly confined to the countryside. But as Wednesday’s attacks showed, the rebels have increasingly brought the war into the city, launching a wave of urban bombings in recent months.

“This shows the type of conflict we have, and the challenges we are facing,” said Sen. Antonio Navarro, a former guerrilla from a now-defunct group, who, like many others inside, thought the blasts were part of a gun salute to the new president.

The mortars, which were apparently launched from a home in a poor neighborhood less than half a mile west of the palace, took place despite strict security measures. More than 200,000 police and soldiers patrolled the nation’s streets, including 12,000 police officers in Bogota. About 25 square blocks around the presidential palace were closed off, all air traffic was shut down, and a U.S. spy plane patrolled the skies.

At least one of the mortars apparently went astray, landing in a slum about five blocks from the palace, killing 11 people. Three presidential guards were injured when other mortars landed in an entrance to the palace leading to an underground garage. The palace received light damage.

Police had detained 20 suspects by late Wednesday but made no arrests. At least 98 homemade grenades were reported discovered in the home from which the mortars were apparently launched. The house was rented two months ago, an indication that the plan had long been in the works.

Henry Baron said he was sleeping in a homeless shelter when he was awakened by a blast and saw a head roll by. The area around the shelter was covered with blood. Many of the dead were apparently killed while gathered around television watching the inauguration.

“I blame this on the new president,” Baron said.

The 500-year-old district surrounding the palace has been the site of terrorism before, most notably in 1985, when guerrillas from another group seized control of the nation’s Supreme Court, resulting in a bloody standoff that left more than 100 people dead, including 11 Supreme Court justices.

Earlier in the day, at least four other bombs exploded around the capital near the nation’s military school. Firefights with guerrillas erupted throughout the country.

The attacks seemed to fulfill predictions of a bloody future for Colombia. Peace talks broke down in February, and the rebels went on a series of sabotage missions, blowing up electric towers, dams and bridges.

Uribe, who survived an assassination attempt while campaigning in April, was elected in May largely on his promise to crack down on the rebels, who have terrorized the country with kidnappings and attacks in which civilians have often been killed. Uribe’s father was killed by guerrillas in 1983.

In his inaugural address Wednesday, Uribe told the nation of 40 million not to expect dramatic solutions to the many problems that afflict them. He ticked off a list of misery: Unemployment at 16%, half the nation in poverty, half the world’s reported kidnappings and about 34,000 killings a year. He promised hard work, political reforms and a smaller, more efficient government.

“We will launch an administration which is honest, efficient and austere,” Uribe said. “It cannot work miracles, but it will work.”

Rarely has a national leader elicited such equal parts of hope and fear. Colombians expect Uribe to crack down on the guerrillas, but they also know that such tactics will plunge the country into a dark and bloodier period.

The bombs that greeted his administration only served to underscore that fear. “It is going to get much worse before it gets any better,” said Jorge Rojas, head of one of the country’s leading peace organizations.

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T. Christian Miller is a Times staff writer, and Mauricio Hoyos is a correspondent.