On January 17, 2019, Colombia was shook again by the devastation and fear of terrorism. That morning, a SUV filled with a large amounts of explosives made its way to a police academy in Bogotá and exploded inside the compound. The devastating attack claimed the lives of 22 people — most of them students between the ages of 20 and 27 — and left over 70 injured, a devastating blow to families, friends and the police community in general. Moreover, this tragedy has also a deep symbolic message that was felt by all Colombians: a shiver down our spines out of fear of returning to a time when these explosions were filled the newspapers everyday. During the 1980 up until the early 2000s Colombia was hit by a dramatic increase in violence rooted in an ongoing civil war. Enemies from different sides and with different objectives aimed to create chaos and drive fear in the country in order to drive their agendas. Unfortunately, at the beginning, they succeeded and their attacks claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, most of them civilians.

Despite this drama, the Colombian people pushed on and demanded that the government found solutions to the root problems of the violence. In 2016, and after much work, a glimmer of hope started to appear. After long negotiations the government and the largest left-wing guerrilla — formerly known as FARC — agreed to a peace process that would transition the organization from an armed militia to a political party with representation in congress. Thanks to this efforts, the conflict de-escalated significantly and civil communities around the country regained their peace.

Data from the following sources: