In this seminar, we explore the chaotic set near a homoclinic cycle to a hyperbolic bifocus at which the vector field has negative divergence. If the invariant manifolds of the bifocus satisfy a non-degeneracy condition, a sequence of hyperbolic suspended horseshoes arises near the cycle, with one expanding and two contracting directions.

We extend previous results on the field and we show that, when the cycle is broken, there are parameters for which the first return map to a given cross section exhibits homoclinic tangencies associated to a dissipative saddle periodic point. These tangencies can be slightly modified in order to satisfy the Tatjer conditions for a generalized tangency of codimension two. This configuration may be seen the organizing center, by which one can obtain strange attractors and infinitely many sinks.

Therefore, the existence of a homoclinic cycle associated to a bifocus may be considered as a criterion for four-dimensional flows to be $C^1$-approximated by other flows exhibiting strange attractors.