Police find suspicious box full of wires but no bomb.

An early morning bomb scare shut down Santiago’s mass transit Metro system for two hours Thursday, leaving tens of thousands of commuters scrambling for transport alternatives and arriving late to work.

Metro authorities decided to partially cut services after receiving a phone call advising them that had bomb had been placed at one of the Metro stations. Authorities then confirmed finding a suspicious box at the Baquedaño Metro station and called in special “GOPE” police forces to investigate.

The “GOPE” police investigation, however, determined that the suspicious box contained only wires, and not explosives.

The Baquedaño station serves as a hub between Metro Lines 1 and 5, and is the most traveled station in the system. Service was discontinued between the Los Leones and Santa Lucia stations, while service at the extreme ends of Line 1 operated in normal fashion.

Commuters shut out of their normal underground Metro transport had to flock to the above-ground Transantiago bus system, which was unable to handle the overload.

Metro authorities lamented the inconvenience caused by the bomb scare.

Although no group has yet acknowledged responsibility for the bomb scare, bomb threats such as this one are not uncommon in Santiago.

On Nov. 15 a noise bomb exploded in a local McDonald’s restaurant (ST, Nov. 16) - leaving no one injured. But a bomb left in a Marriot Hotel bathroom on Nov. 4 left six injured (ST. Nov. 5).

There have been 101 bombings in the Metropolitan Region since 2004 perpetrated by different anarchist groups. The same bomb used in the Marriott bombing was used last year on Oct. 2, when a suspect left a bomb at SOFOFA (a business lobbying group) headquarters in Las Condes. In that case, police were able to deactivate the bomb.

On May 22, anarchist Mauricio Morales died while transporting a bomb on his bike toward Escuela de Gendarmería. A few months later on Aug. 11, two bombs were planted in two gyms in eastern Santiago.

By Steve Anderson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )