News

Paloma Valencia surge reshapes Colombia race as election season begins

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…

RICHARD EMBLIN March 10, 2026

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

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…

RICHARD EMBLIN March 5, 2026

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

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…

RICHARD EMBLIN March 4, 2026

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

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…

RICHARD EMBLIN March 3, 2026

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Suspected drone attack disrupts high-level visit to Colombia’s Hidroituango

Colombia’s security forces alerted late Sunday Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez and Antioquia Governor Andrés Julián Rendón to cancel a planned visit to the Hidroituango hydroelectric…

THE CITY PAPER STAFF March 2, 2026

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UN report warns Colombia faces worsening human rights crisis

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…

RICHARD EMBLIN February 26, 2026

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Bogotá to welcome 500,000 Easter visitors with expanded Semana Santa programme

Bogotá and the department of Cundinamarca are preparing to receive up to half a million visitors during Semana Santa 2026, as the Mayoralty unveiled an…

THE CITY PAPER STAFF February 25, 2026

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Colombians now the biggest foreign contingent on Ukraine’s frontlines

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…

RICHARD EMBLIN February 24, 2026

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Colombia’s Petro Defies Court Suspension of Minimum Wage Hike

Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Sunday mounted a forceful defence of his government’s 23.7% minimum wage increase for 2026, pledging to issue a temporary decree…

THE CITY PAPER STAFF February 16, 2026

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

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…

RICHARD EMBLIN February 12, 2026

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Extreme flooding in northern Colombia triggers humanitarian crisis

Unseasonal heavy rains and severe flooding across northern Colombia have created a full-blown humanitarian crisis, displacing hundreds of thousands, destroying homes and farmland, and pushing…

THE CITY PAPER STAFF February 10, 2026

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Petro and Trump: What next in U.S.–Colombia relations?

Nearly a week after Donald Trump hosted Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, at the White House, calm has returned to a bilateral relationship that only recently…

RICHARD EMBLIN February 9, 2026