(FLIP/IFEX) – On 13 November 2002, at approximately 11:15 p.m. (local time), a bomb placed inside a vehicle exploded in front of the RCN radio station studios in Cúcuta. Four individuals, including a police officer, a security guard and two local residents were injured and there was material damage to some of the surrounding buildings. […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – On 13 November 2002, at approximately 11:15 p.m. (local time), a bomb placed inside a vehicle exploded in front of the RCN radio station studios in Cúcuta. Four individuals, including a police officer, a security guard and two local residents were injured and there was material damage to some of the surrounding buildings.
No RCN journalist or media worker was injured in the blast. The station’s security guard was the only individual inside the RCN studios at the time of the explosion.
The Cúcuta Diocese radio station, run by the Catholic Church, the Saludcoop Clinic and the nearby home of the Norte de Santander police commander, Colonel Carlos Alberto Barragán, were also impacted by the blast.
The assailants reportedly fired shots at the guards stationed outside the police commander’s house and then fled, leaving behind a taxi packed with 40 kilogrammes of explosives in front of the RCN studios.
Olga Lucia Cotoma, director of the Cúcuta RCN news programme in Cúcuta, informed FLIP that no threats had been received at the radio station since the end of May, in the weeks preceding the presidential elections.
Despite the attack, the radio station remained on the air as its transmission equipment was unaffected. RCN was the target of a previous car bomb attack in October 1997. After suffering extensive damage at the time, the station’s studios were rebuilt and a security gate was installed. These modifications likely explain why the station did not suffer any damage in the latest attack.
