Staring at the charred skeleton that was once Bogotá's posh El Nogal social club, Eliodoro Londoño straightened his power suit and tried to hide his feelings of powerlessness. Londoño, 47, a telecom executive and El Nogal member, lost friends and colleagues on the night of Feb. 7, when a 200-kg car bomb planted by Colombia's leftist FARC guerrillas ripped through the club's 11 stories, killing 35 people including six children at a piñata party and injuring 173.
The El Nogal blast was the most devastating attack of the rebels' new urban terror campaign and the first...