Latest News

From Cemetery Duty to a U.S. Indictment: Timochenko’s Name Resurfaces in Maduro Case

By Richard Emblin - October 9, 2026

The image is striking. With machete in hand, Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri, better known by his wartime alias Timochenko, is clearing vegetation and debris among the graves at the San Antonio de Padua cemetery in Pitalito, Huila. The former top commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is there not as a guerrilla leader, […]

Abelardo’s first Sixty Days: Security at Home, Investment Abroad

By Richard Emblin - October 5, 2026

After 60 days, Abelardo de la Espriella has made one thing unmistakably clear: the era of Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” is over. There will be no intermediaries, no back-channel negotiations and no political accommodation with Colombia’s illegal armed groups. The new government is betting instead on military pressure, territorial control and the restoration of the […]

Colombia security debate moves to Bogotá as congressman seeks military deployment

By Richard Emblin - October 1, 2026

A proposal to deploy Colombia’s armed forces in three of Bogotá’s most populous localities has opened a new debate over the role of soldiers in urban security, days after President Abelardo De La Espriella ordered a military deployment in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta following a wave of violence attributed to a criminal organization. […]

Tallis Scholars bring five decades of Renaissance polyphony to Bogotá

By Richard Emblin - September 30, 2026

The 15th International Festival of Sacred Music of Bogotá enters its final week with a programme that brings together Renaissance polyphony, Latin American sacred traditions, and a grand adieu with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Among the week’s principal events is the Bogotá debut of The Tallis Scholars, the British vocal ensemble founded and directed by Peter […]

Drone attacks hit police in Cauca and Chocó as Colombia’s displacement crisis deepens

By Richard Emblin - September 29, 2026

At least 10 police officers were wounded Tuesday in a series of attacks involving drones and explosives in two regions of Colombia, as armed groups continue to employ unmanned aircraft against security forces and the country records a growing number of mass displacement events. The first attack occurred at the former Tunía toll station in […]

Colombia’s Unfinished Business of Peace: De La Espriella and JEP

By Richard Emblin - September 28, 2026

Ten years after Colombia first signed its historic peace agreement with the FARC, the country’s experiment with transitional justice has reached a critical moment. The anniversary arrives not as a celebration of an uncontested peace, but amid a confrontation over the future of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, or JEP, the tribunal established to investigate […]

Rituals: Art, memory and the rituals that hold communities together

By Richard Emblin - September 21, 2026

A new exhibition at the Banco de la República in Bogotá brings together 19 recently acquired works exploring spirituality, ancestral knowledge, memory and the rituals of everyday life. In a world defined by acceleration, information overload and increasing disconnection, the ritual has taken on a renewed significance. It can be a ceremony, a prayer, a […]

Raging wildfire threatens Villa de Leyva, authorities investigate suspected arson

By Richard Emblin - September 21, 2026

A massive wildfire continued to burn on Monday above the historic Colombian town of Villa de Leyva, with strong winds hampering efforts to contain the flames as authorities investigated mounting indications that the fire may have been deliberately started. The blaze, which began on Saturday afternoon near the cusp of the San Marcos mountain, has […]

ARTBO 2026: Four days of art, commerce and Bogotá’s cultural crowd

By Richard Emblin - September 18, 2026

For four days every September, Bogotá’s art world moves into Ágora Bogotá, where collectors, curators, gallerists, artists, designers, students and the city’s cultural crowd converge for ARTBO, the capital’s annual international art fair. And then there is the opening night. The inauguration of ARTBO has become something of a ritual on Bogotá’s cultural calendar, when […]

Rubio’s Whirlwind Visit Signals a New Era in U.S.-Colombia Relations

By Richard Emblin - September 9, 2026

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s whirlwind visit to Colombia on Tuesday marked a decisive shift in relations between Washington and Bogotá, with President Abelardo De La Espriella presenting his government as a renewed strategic partner for the United States in Latin America. Meeting in Barranquilla, the alternate seat of Colombia’s presidency since De La […]

Bogotá’s Sacred Music Festival Turns 15 With ‘La Concordia’

By Richard Emblin - September 4, 2026

Bogotá’s iconic Teatro Colón is the starting point for a month-long exploration of music, spirituality and the many ways in which cultures find common ground in a city of contrasts. The occasion is the 15th edition of the International Sacred Music Festival, which opens on under a theme that is both musical and quietly ambitious: […]

Colombia’s ‘Miracle’ Chick Offers Hope for a Bird on the Brink

By Richard Emblin - September 3, 2026

In a country where the morning chorus can include more bird species than anywhere else on Earth, the arrival of one tiny chick carries an outsized significance. Named Milagro, or “Miracle,” the newly hatched blue-billed curassow (Crax alberti) represents more than a successful breeding effort. The female chick is a rare new generation of a […]

Wildfires Consume 30,000 Hectares Across Tolima, Criminal Groups Suspected

By Richard Emblin - August 24, 2026

More than 30,000 hectares have been burned across Colombia’s Tolima department as firefighters battle one of the region’s worst wildfire emergencies in years, but authorities are now investigating a darker possibility: that some of the fires are being deliberately set by criminal groups seeking to divert security forces, destabilize communities and gain control of territory. Interior […]

Shakira Pledges US$1.25 M to Rebuild Earthquake-Damaged Schools in Chocó

By Richard Emblin - August 19, 2026

Colombia’s Shakira has pledged US$1.25 million toward rebuilding schools and educational infrastructure damaged by the earthquake that struck Colombia’s Pacific region on August 10, announcing a major recovery initiative during a visit to Chocó on Monday. The award-winning singer and pop superstar arrived in Quibdó accompanied by American philanthropist Howard Graham Buffett, representatives of CAF, […]

Where Silence Still Speaks: Discovering the Monastery of Ecce Homo in Boyacá

By Richard Emblin - July 31, 2026

Eight kilometres beyond the whitewashed streets and polished boutiques of Villa de Leyva, the traffic fades into birdsong and the landscape begins to exhale. The road winds through vineyards, olive groves, patchwork fields and ochre hills before arriving at one of Colombia’s most quietly extraordinary places: the Monastery of Santo Ecce Homo in Sutamarchán. It […]

Petro Uses Independence Day Address to Challenge Election Results

By Richard Emblin - July 21, 2026

Outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro used his final Independence Day address to Congress on Monday to question the legitimacy of Colombia’s presidential election, accuse the United States of imposing the country’s next leader and urge supporters to prepare mass protests if the incoming government reverses his reforms. The speech, delivered less than three weeks before […]