Latest News

Qatar Airways opens a new aviation corridor between Bogotá, Caracas and Doha

By Richard Emblin - November 7, 2026

The launch of the airline’s twice-weekly South American service offers more than a new connection for Colombians. Its strategic importance may lie in linking Venezuela’s vast energy resources with Gulf investment capital and opening a new gateway between Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. BOGOTÁ – After months of changes to its launch schedule, […]

De la Espriella Takes His Crime Crackdown to Bogotá With 172 Arrests

By The City Paper Staff - October 29, 2026

The President’s personal involvement in high-profile police raids, his pledge to govern from within Colombia and proposal for military control in southern Bogotá is putting a hardline security strategy to the test. President Abelardo de la Espriella took his escalating campaign against urban crime to Bogotá on Wednesday, personally accompanying security forces during Operation Kratos, […]

Bogotá Moves to Curb Halloween Violence One year After Moreno Death

By Richard Emblin - October 28, 2026

Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán’s administration is reintroducing nighttime motorcycle restrictions and deploying more than 400 District personnel as the capital prepares for Halloween, days after two men were sentenced for the killing of the 20-year-old university student in Chapinero. As Bogotá prepares for another Halloween weekend, the death of university student Jaime Esteban Moreno casts […]

Deicy Jiménez Alleges Sex-for-Contracts Network Under Petro

By The City Paper Staff - October 26, 2026

Photographs of cash, suspected drugs and clothing, alongside reported government contracts worth more than COP$100 million, have intensified allegations that public resources were used to facilitate Petro’s private encounters. The ex-President denies exchanging contracts for intimate favours. The allegations surrounding Gustavo Petro’s presidency have taken a disturbing turn. A young woman, identified as Deicy Jiménez, […]

Who Gets to Tell Colombia’s Story? National Museum on Frontline Over Historical Memory

By Richard Emblin - October 19, 2026

At least 30 National Riot Police officers stood outside Colombia’s National Museum on Monday as academics, artists and historians gathered to debate a question that reaches far beyond the objects recently removed from display: who gets to decide how the country remembers its past? The museum was closed, as it is every Monday. But the […]

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 […]

Bogotá’s Weather Turns Electric With Hailstorms

By The City Paper Staff - October 6, 2026

Bogotá’s skies have turned violently electric this week, delivering a dramatic reversal to weeks of dry weather, high temperatures and growing concern over forest fires in the capital’s eastern hills and across the Andean lowlands. On Monday afternoon, October 5, a powerful electrical storm swept across the city after temperatures climbed to 24.6°C during the […]

Colombia’s Catholic Church Puts Exorcism Under Closer Scrutiny

By The City Paper Staff - October 6, 2026

The Catholic Church in Colombia is tightening the way exorcism is approached, placing greater emphasis on discernment, professional training and the protection of people who seek help believing they may be experiencing demonic influence. The new emphasis emerged from the third national formation course for exorcists, held in Bogotá under the title “Liberate and Care: […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Festival El Mundo brings 13 nations together through food in Bogotá

By The City Paper Staff - September 17, 2026

Bogotá is preparing to turn gastronomy into a meeting point for cultures with the first edition of the Festival Gastronómico y Cultural El Mundo en el Corazón de Bogotá, taking place September 19 and 20 at Parque El Country. Admission is free to the two-day festival, which brings together 13 participating nations and the UN […]

19 minors reported missing in Bogotá in a single week

By The City Paper Staff - September 16, 2026

The disappearance of children and adolescents has become a growing concern in Bogotá after the city’s Security Secretariat reported 19 cases during the last week, the majority involving minors. Twelve of those reported missing were subsequently found alive, while the search continues for the remaining seven. Authorities said several of the cases were linked to […]

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 […]

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: […]