Grenades Hit Two Bars in Bogota

A late-night grenade attack on two bars in the Colombian capital’s wealthy Zona Rosa district killed one woman and injured 71 people, including three Americans, authorities said Sunday.

Officials blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the nation’s largest rebel group, for the Saturday night blasts at the outdoor patios of the crowded Bogota Beer Company and its neighbor Palos de Moguer, which are frequented by foreigners. One suspect was apprehended, but authorities believe another man involved in the attack is still at large.

The explosions, one of which ignited a heat lamp warming the patio of the Bogota Beer Company, overturned tables and chairs, shattered glass in every direction and left sidewalks stained with blood.

Arturo Vasquez, 28, who was selling hand-crafted jewelry outside the Beer Company at the time of the blast, said he was thrown to the ground.

“There were a lot of people hurt,” Vasquez said Saturday night as he limped away from the scene, his jeans stained with blood. “There was a lot of fire. Everything lit up. There was a man burning.”

While Colombia’s four-decade guerrilla conflict has made violence routine in rural areas, direct attacks on civilians in urban areas have been rare, with the FARC usually targeting buildings associated with the police or army.

The FARC’s urban terror campaign, however, has been increasing in recent months. In October, six people were killed and 29 wounded in a series of car bombs in Bogota attributed to the guerrillas. Those attacks took place in the capital’s central and poor southern neighborhoods.

The last major attack on the city’s elite occurred in February, when 36 people were killed and 160 wounded when a car bomb exploded in the garage of the posh El Nogal social club. That attack was also attributed to the FARC, and since then, the rebels have been under enormous pressure from the army.

The grenades could also have been aimed at Americans, who are known to patronize both bars. A U.S. Embassy official said Sunday that three Americans were among the wounded, though their injuries were not life-threatening. He refused to release the Americans’ names, but Reuters news agency identified one man who was hurt in the leg as Vance Vogli, a 43-year-old American Airlines pilot.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which both have a permanent presence in the Colombian capital, are investigating, the Embassy official said.

If the FARC is behind the attack, it may be an attempt to exploit the political weakness of President Alvaro Uribe, who has waged an offensive against the rebels since taking office last year. At the end of October, corruption and cost-cutting reforms Uribe had backed were defeated in a referendum, and since then, three Cabinet officials, the national police chief and the head of the armed forces have resigned.

Nevertheless, Colombians seemed resilient.

By Sunday afternoon, the entire outdoor patio of Bogota Beer Company was filled to capacity, and both bars were draped with the red, blue and yellow Colombian flag. A sign hanging from one of the businesses said: “For peace. Not one step back.”