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Colombia on brink of outlawing female genital mutilation in landmark vote

By The City Paper Staff - March 31, 2026

Colombia is on the verge of banning female genital mutilation (FGM), as lawmakers advance legislation that would outlaw a practice still reported in parts of the country, making it the only nation in Latin America where cases have been documented. In a unanimous decision, the First Commission of the Senate approved the bill in its […]

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 […]

FARC dissident ‘Iván Mordisco’ alive but wounded after major military bombardment

By The City Paper Staff - March 30, 2026

Colombia’s security forces believe FARC dissident leader Iván Mordisco is alive but seriously wounded following a major aerial bombardment in the remote department of Vaupés, dealing a significant blow to one of the country’s most powerful armed groups. Uncertainty over the fate of Mordisco — whose real name is Néstor Gregorio Vera Fernández — mounted […]

American Airlines flight attendant missing in Medellín prompts cross-border search

By The City Paper Staff - March 26, 2026

The disappearance of a U.S. flight attendant during a brief layover in Medellín has sparked an urgent search involving Colombian authorities, airline officials and U.S. representatives, as questions mount over his final hours in the city. Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, 32, an American Airlines crew member based in Dallas-Fort Worth, arrived in Colombia’s second-largest city […]

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 […]

Colombian President Gustavo Petro and U.S President Donald Trump inside the White House. Photo: The White House

U.S. prosecutors probe Colombia’s Petro over alleged narco links, NYT reports

By The City Paper Staff - March 20, 2026

U.S. federal prosecutors have opened preliminary criminal investigations into Colombian President Gustavo Petro over alleged links to drug traffickers and possible illicit financing of his 2022 campaign, according to a report by The New York Times. The previously undisclosed probes are being conducted by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Brooklyn and involve specialists in international […]

Alias "Lobo Menor" was arrested in Bogotá while connecting on a commercial flight from Mexico. Photo: Migración Colombia

Colombia arrests “mastermind” of Ecuador candidate Villavicencio’s murder

By The City Paper Staff - March 18, 2026

Colombian authorities on Wednesday arrested Ángel Esteban Aguilar Morales, alias “Lobo Menor”, an alleged senior figure in the Ecuadorian criminal group Los Lobos and suspected intellectual author behind the 2023 assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The arrest took place at El Dorado International Airport, where Aguilar Morales arrived on a commercial flight from […]

Colombia – Ecuador rift widens over cross-border bombings

By The City Paper Staff - March 17, 2026

President Gustavo Petro accused Ecuador on Monday of carrying out bombing raids inside Colombian territory, sharply escalating a diplomatic and trade dispute that has been simmering since January. Petro said “27 charred bodies” have been found near the border and suggested the attacks could not have been carried out by illegal armed groups, though he […]

Medellín's Rionegro airport is a gateway for alleged sex tourists. Photo: Migración Colombia

Colombia bars 10 foreigners in single-day crackdown on suspected sex tourism

By The City Paper Staff - March 16, 2026

Colombia’s migration authority Migración Colombia denied entry last week to 10 foreign nationals suspected of seeking sex tourism, marking the largest single-day refusal of its kind at Medellín’s main international gateway, officials said. The individuals — nine from the United States and one from Anguilla — were stopped at José María Córdova International Airport on […]

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. […]