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At Museo Santa Clara, visual artist David Felipe Escobar reactivates colonial angelic iconography through queer embodiment. Photo: Museo Santa Clara

Bogotá’s Museo Santa Clara opens provocative exhibition exploring queer spirituality and colonial memory

By Richard Emblin - April 9, 2026

In the gilded stillness of one of Bogotá’s most striking colonial spaces, a new exhibition is quietly unsettling centuries-old certainties. Entonces llamó a un arcángel, the latest show by Colombian artist David Felipe Escobar, opens this week at the Museo Santa Clara, inviting visitors into a dialogue between baroque religious iconography and contemporary queer identities. […]

Influencer “Stink Bomb” on Avianca Flight Triggers Safety Alert Over Atlantic

By Richard Emblin - March 30, 2026

The stunt began, as so many do in the age of viral fame, driven by the need to provoke a reaction. At 35,000 feet above the Atlantic, inside the sealed cabin of an Avianca B-787 ‘Dreamliner’ en route from Bogotá to Madrid, passengers aboard flight AV46 were unwitting participants in a reckless influencer incident involving […]

The Hercules C-130 is a workhorse of the Colombia Air Force (FAC). Photo: FILE

Colombia probes aging Hercules crash as Petro calls aircraft “scrap”

By Richard Emblin - March 25, 2026

Colombian authorities are investigating whether mechanical failure, human error or excess weight caused the crash of a military C-130 aircraft that has now left at least 69 dead, as a political dispute intensifies over the condition of the country’s aging air fleet. The aircraft, a Lockheed C-130 Hercules operated by the Colombian Aerospace Force (FAC), […]

The FAC1016 Hercules crashed in a remote area of the Putumayo department in southeast Colombia. Photo: FAC

Colombia mourns 66 dead after military Hercules crash in Putumayo

By Richard Emblin - March 24, 2026

At least 66 people were killed after a Colombian military transport aircraft crashed shortly after take-off in the country’s southwest on Monday, authorities said, in one of the deadliest air disasters involving the armed forces in recent years. The aircraft, a C-130 Hercules, went down at around 9:50 a.m. local time near the municipality of […]

Juan Daniel Oviedo and Paloma Valencia during a recent event in Medellín. Photo: X

Valencia picks Oviedo as VP to expand Colombia’s center-right base

By Richard Emblin - March 12, 2026

Conservative presidential candidate Paloma Valencia has chosen economist and former statistics chief Juan Daniel Oviedo as her vice-presidential running mate, a move widely interpreted as an effort by the right-wing Centro Democrático to broaden its appeal beyond its traditional conservative base ahead of Colombia’s May 31 presidential election. The alliance seeks to balance Valencia’s hard-line […]

Indigenous communities caught in armed clashes in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada

By Richard Emblin - March 11, 2026

Colombia’s high-altitude Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta has become the latest flashpoint in the country’s worsening rural security crisis, after armed clashes between illegal groups left Indigenous communities trapped in the crossfire and triggered a humanitarian evacuation mission. Authorities confirmed that at least nine wounded civilians, including two minors, were evacuated following heavy fighting between […]

Paloma Valencia surge reshapes Colombia race as election season begins

By Richard Emblin - March 10, 2026

Colombia’s presidential race entered a decisive new phase this week after Sunday’s inter-party primaries propelled conservative senator Paloma Valencia into the national spotlight and triggered a scramble among political factions to forge alliances ahead of the May 31 election. Valencia’s commanding performance in the right-wing “La Gran Consulta” primary – where she secured roughly six […]

Petro opens consultation on ‘Black Line’ after Colombia court ends protection decree

By Richard Emblin - March 5, 2026

President Gustavo Petro has announced the start of a consultation process with ethnic communities to draft a new decree protecting the sacred “Black Line” of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta after Colombia’s highest administrative court annulled the previous legal framework governing the ancestral territory. The announcement came late on March 4 during an interethnic […]

FARC will release all minors under 15 as part of the peace process with the Colombian government.

Ex-FARC admit to recruiting 18,677 children during Colombia conflict

By Richard Emblin - March 4, 2026

Colombia’s transitional justice system has reached a morally charged milestone. The seven former commanders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) guerrilla have formally accepted responsibility for the recruitment of 18,677 minors during the country’s decades-long internal conflict, acknowledging not only the scale of the practice but also the sexual and reproductive abuses that […]

Colombia set for inter-party primaries, presidential race gripped by apathy

By Richard Emblin - March 3, 2026

Colombians head to the polls on March 8 for what is, formally, a legislative election. In practice, it is something more consequential: a stress test of the country’s political coalitions ahead of the May 31 presidential race already defined by fragmentation – and by mounting security concerns for right-wing candidates. The vote for Congress matters. […]

Marina Sánchez paints Bogotá’s Cerros in luminous colour at Museo del Chicó

By Richard Emblin - March 2, 2026

In Bogotá, the mountains are never out of sight. They rise abruptly along the city’s eastern edge, forming a green wall that shapes the capital’s light, weather and sense of place. For Colombian artist Marina Sánchez, the ridges that surround the Colombian capital’s cardinal points are also more intimate: a constant presence, a point of […]

UN report warns Colombia faces worsening human rights crisis

By Richard Emblin - February 26, 2026

Colombia is at risk of sliding back into one of the darkest chapters of its recent history, according to a stark new report by the United Nations, which warns that escalating violence, territorial control by illegal armed groups and political instability are eroding hard-won human rights gains. The annual assessment by the Office of the […]

Colombians now the biggest foreign contingent on Ukraine’s frontlines

By Richard Emblin - February 24, 2026

Thousands of miles from Bogotá, in the frozen trench lines of eastern Ukraine, Colombian accents have become a familiar sound of war. Between 1,000 and 2,000 Colombian nationals are currently serving in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to recent investigations, while as many as 7,000 have passed through the country’s defence […]

Dr. Candice Fast’s research shows that hidden beliefs between leaders and employees significantly shape workplace performance.

Candice Fast on the Hidden Beliefs That Shape Workplace Performance

By Richard Emblin - February 20, 2026

As Latin American companies confront slowing growth, talent churn and the demands of hybrid work, leadership effectiveness is being redefined. Strategy and charisma are no longer enough. Increasingly, performance hinges on something less visible: the assumptions leaders and employees hold about one another. New doctoral research by Dr. Candice Fast suggests those hidden beliefs – […]

Over 130 original paintings and sculptures by Colombia's Fernando Botero are on display in Singapore. Photo: Courtesy: Gardens by the Bay.

Fernando Botero Takes on Singapore with Landmark Exhibition

By Richard Emblin - February 16, 2026

Singapore has never been shy about scale. But this season, the city’s appetite for monumentality takes on a distinctly Latin American accent. For the first time, the work of Colombian master Fernando Botero makes his Singapore debut with the largest exhibition of his work ever showcased in Asia. Spanning galleries, inter-active theatres and extensive public […]

Global airlines return to Venezuela, Avianca restores Bogotá–Caracas flight

By Richard Emblin - February 12, 2026

International airlines are rapidly re-establishing services to Venezuela, signalling a cautious but commercially significant reopening of the country’s aviation market. On Thursday, February 12, Colombia’s Avianca resumed a daily direct flights between Bogotá and Caracas. The move restores one of the most important air corridors in northern South America and comes amid a flurry of […]