Latest News

Bogotá to deploy over 4,000 anti-riot police in day of protests against De la Espriella

By Richard Emblin - October 13, 2026

More than 4,000 members of the National police’s Anti-riot Squad – ESMAD – are expected to be deployed on Bogotá’s streets on Wednesday as former president Gustavo Petro prepares to join trade unions in a nationwide mobilization against President Abelardo de la Espriella. Wednesday’s rallies will test the government’s security guarantees in maintaing public order […]

With FARC’s Political Party Over, Colombia’s Peace Accord Faces Deadline

By The City Paper Staff - October 8, 2026

Nine years after Colombia signed its historic peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), one of the central political promises of the Final Accord has run out of road. Comunes, the party formed by the last FARC Secretariat and guerrilla warlords, has lost its legal status after failing to secure sufficient support […]

De La Espriella Sets Ground Rules for Indigenous Protest in Conflict Region

By The City Paper Staff - October 7, 2026

President Abelardo de la Espriella has set clear ground rules for an indigenous mobilization scheduled for October 11–14 in Cauca, guaranteeing the right to peaceful protest while warning that his government will not permit road blockades, violence or attempts to paralyze the department. The warning comes as the Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca (CRIC) prepares […]

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. […]

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 […]

De La Espriella keeps his promise and sends Colombia’s Vice-President Restrepo to UN

By The City Paper Staff - September 25, 2026

President Abelardo De La Espriella kept one of his most closely watched campaign promises on Thursday, remaining in Colombia to attend to the security situation in Santa Marta and Cali, rather than travelling to Manhattan for the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Instead, the president entrusted his first address to the UN […]

What next for Santa Marta after De la Espriella militarized the coastal city?

By The City Paper Staff - September 23, 2026

An uneasy calm settled over Santa Marta on Wednesday, with the Caribbean-facing boardwalk of the city’s historic waterfront noticeably quieter than usual, its bustling street vendors absent and the early-morning joggers few and far between. Across the old city, colonial streets that would normally be filling with residents, tourists and workers remained largely empty. Shops […]

De La Espriella vows to get ‘Pinocho’ after death of paramilitary leader in Santa Marta

By The City Paper Staff - September 22, 2026

Santa Marta woke on Tuesday to deserted streets, closed businesses and suspended transport following the killing of a senior commander of the Autodefensas Conquistadoras de la Sierra Nevada (ACSN), as President Abelardo De La Espriella vowed to pursue the armed group’s leadership. José Luis Pérez Villanueva, alias “Cholo”, described by authorities as the second commander […]

Chocó is still moving more than a month after Colombia’s 7.4 earthquake

By The City Paper Staff - September 15, 2026

A seismic swarm around Sipí and Istmina in the middle San Juan region of Chocó continues to produce tremors across the department as President De La Espriella visits to oversee reconstruction. The earth beneath Chocó has continued to move more than a month after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Colombia’s Pacific litoral, with a series […]

De La Espriella launches all-out offensive against corruption and “white-collar criminals”

By The City Paper Staff - September 14, 2026

Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella launched a forceful attack on corruption during an televised address to the nation Sunday, targeting both those convicted of crimes involving public funds and those who, he says, attempt to use their positions, influence or personal connections to secure special treatment. In a speech focused on the victims of […]

Colombia Moves to Revive Aerial Eradication of Coca Crops

By The City Paper Staff - September 10, 2026

Colombia is moving rapidly to revive aerial eradication of coca, but the chemical at the centre of its first proposed test will not be glyphosate, known commercially as “Round Up”. The government of President Abelardo de la Espriella has approved a pilot programme to test the aerial spraying of coca crops with glufosinate ammonium, an […]

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 […]

Rubio Arrives in Colombia as Washington Seeks New Strategic Alliance

By The City Paper Staff - September 8, 2026

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to arrive in Barranquilla on Tuesday afternoon for a high-level meeting with Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella, in what could become a defining moment in the reconstruction of relations between Bogotá and Washington. The visit, confirmed by Colombia’s Foreign Ministry, will be Rubio’s first official trip […]

Colombia’s ‘Ley Anticapuchos’ draws a necessary line between protest and vandalism

By The City Paper Staff - September 2, 2026

There is nothing particularly controversial about protecting the right to protest. Colombia’s Constitution does it. A democracy needs it. Governments should expect citizens to march, demonstrate, criticize and, when necessary, confront those in power. But there is an equally important principle: the right to protest cannot become a licence to destroy. That is the premise […]

Colombia’s armed groups turn TikTok and Facebook into recruiting grounds for children

By The City Paper Staff - September 1, 2026

Colombia’s long-running conflict has found a new recruiting ground, one that fits inside a child’s pocket. Human Rights Watch has warned that illegal armed groups are increasingly using TikTok, Facebook and other social-media platforms to recruit children, combining propaganda, promises of money and status, coded language and carefully chosen emojis to draw minors toward illegal […]