Latest News

De la Espriella Renews Military Offensive Against Dissidents After Planadas Bombing

By The City Paper Staff - November 3, 2026

Colombia’s Abelardo de la Espriella has vowed to intensify airstrikes, special operations and aerial coca eradication following a wave of terror attacks across Tolima, Huila and Cauca that left civilians dead, including a two-month-old baby. President Abelardo de la Espriella announced Monday that he will intensify Colombia’s military offensive against illegal armed groups following a […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

‘Timochenko’ Urges De la Espriella to Uphold 2016 Peace Agreement

By The City Paper Staff - July 14, 2026

Former FARC commander Rodrigo Londoño, known by his alias “Timochenko,” returned to Colombia over the weekend and appeared Tuesday before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), ending days of speculation that he might remain in Spain following threats by President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella to seek his imprisonment for life over crimes committed during Colombia’s […]

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 […]

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 […]

UN report warns Colombia faces worsening human rights crisis

By Richard Emblin - February 26, 2026

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 United Nations, which warns that escalating violence, territorial control by illegal armed groups and political instability are eroding hard-won human rights gains. The annual assessment by the Office of the […]

Caracol Reveals Complicity Between FARC Dissidents and Colombian Army

By The City Paper Staff - November 24, 2025

President Gustavo Petro is confronting explosive accusations of treason and complicity after a Noticias Caracol investigative report revealed alleged channels of communication and the transfer of highly classified military intelligence from the Armed Forces to FARC dissidents led by alias Calarcá. The report broadcast on Sunday has plunged the leftist administration into political turmoil and […]

Palace of Justice: Forty Years, Four Peace Processes, and No Peace

By Luis Guillermo Plata - November 9, 2025

I remember perfectly the morning of November 6, 1985. I was 18 years old, a high school conscript serving in the Presidential Guard Battalion. Chaos reigned. Commanders shouted orders as we deployed in trucks and on foot – not only toward Plaza de Bolívar, but to different corners of Bogotá. No one knew where the […]

Colombia’s JEP Sentences Ex-FARC for Mass Kidnappings

By Richard Emblin - September 16, 2025

Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) tribunal issued its first sanctions against seven former FARC commanders, holding them responsible for kidnapping over 21,000 people. Classified as war crimes and crimes against humanity, the commanders received eight-year restorative sanctions under the 2016 peace accord.

Colombians to mobilize August 7 in defense of Uribe with 12-year Sentence

By Richard Emblin - August 4, 2025

Former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe was sentenced to 12 years of house arrest for witness tampering and bribery, sparking nationwide demostrations in his defense for August 7. Critics say President Petro is using the case to rewrite Colombia’s conflict history and legitimize former FARC’s human rights abuses.

Uribe’s Defense Team Decries ‘Lawfare’ After Historic Guilty Verdict

By Richard Emblin - July 29, 2025

Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was found guilty of witness tampering, but his defense claims the trial was politically motivated and legally flawed. They argue the judge ignored exculpatory evidence and relied on a discredited witness. Uribe’s legal team plans to appeal, calling the verdict an attack on due process.

Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez addresses a crowd in Santa Fe de Antioquia. Photo: Twitter/Alvaro Uribe.

Guilty Verdict Against Álvaro Uribe Sparks Condemnation from U.S Lawmakers

By Richard Emblin - July 29, 2025

Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was found guilty of witness tampering and abuse of process, becoming the country’s first ex-head of state convicted at trial. U.S. Republican lawmakers condemned the verdict as political persecution, while Uribe’s legal team plans to appeal. Sentencing is scheduled for Friday.

Ex-FARC Commanders Admit to Forcible Recruitment of More Than 18,000 Minors

By The City Paper Staff - July 10, 2025

The six former FARC commanders of the Secretariat admitted to recruiting more than 18,000 children during Colombia’s armed conflict, calling it a grave mistake before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace.