The 1989 bombing that targeted a presidential candidate but missed its mark

Countries & Cities · Published 12 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In November 1989, a Boeing 727 flying over Colombia was torn apart by an explosive charge. The Medellín Cartel ordered the attack to assassinate César Gaviria, but the mission failed, leaving behind a legacy of tragedy, political upheaval, and a long-standing debate over the true cause of the disaster.

The destruction of Avianca Flight 203 occurred on November 27, 1989, five minutes into its flight from Bogotá to Cali. At an altitude of 13,000 feet and a speed of 794 kilometres per hour, a detonation caused fuel vapors in an empty central tank to ignite. The resulting blast separated the aircraft's nose from its tail, scattering wreckage across a five-kilometre radius around Soacha. The tragedy claimed 107 lives on board and three people on the ground.

The bombing was a calculated move by Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel to influence the 1990 Colombian elections by killing presidential candidate César Gaviria. Investigations suggested that two men working for Escobar carried the plastic explosives on board, seated in 18A and 18K. In a particularly grim detail, a young man named Alberto Prieto was manipulated into activating the device, believing he was merely turning on a recording device for a nearby passenger.

While the official investigation pointed to a cartel-ordered bombing, the event remains a subject of intense dispute. In 2016, an investigative report by El Espectador suggested the explosion might have actually been caused by a malfunctioning fuel pump that had been previously reported. This theory faced heavy criticism from Avianca and the victims' families. Regardless of the technical cause, the aftermath was profound: Gaviria survived to become president, and the deaths of two Americans prompted the Bush administration to launch intelligence operations against Escobar.

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