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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 […]

De la Espriella Targets Wokeism and Petro’s Revisionism of Colombia’s M-19

By Richard Emblin - October 16, 2026

President Abelardo de la Espriella has ordered Culture Minister Paola Holguín to remove images and references to former M-19 guerrilla commander Carlos Pizarro from government public spaces, opening a new front in the battle over how Colombia remembers its decades-long internal conflict. Speaking at the Ministry of Culture on Thursday, alongside Holguín, De la Espriella […]

Colombia’s Jerusalem Embassy Marks Dramatic Break With Petro’s Anti-Israel Policy

By The City Paper Staff - October 15, 2026

Colombia’s inauguration of its Embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday marked a dramatic reversal of former president Gustavo Petro’s ideologically-biased international relations, restoring a diplomatic relationship that had been severed over Israel’s invasion in Gaza following the October 7 terrorist attack. The formal opening of the Embassy fulfilled a campaign promise by President Abelardo de la […]

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 […]

British-Born Cancer Specialist Dies After Medellín’s EDC Music Festival

By The City Paper Staff - October 13, 2026

The death of a British-born cancer specialist after an electronic music festival in Medellín this weekend has cast a shadow over the Colombian debut of one of the world’s best-known dance music brands. A second foreign attendee from Costa Rica also died during the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), held October 10 and 11 at Medellín’s […]

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 […]

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 […]

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: […]

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. […]

Drone attacks hit police in Cauca and Chocó as Colombia’s displacement crisis deepens

By Richard Emblin - September 29, 2026

At least 10 police officers were wounded Tuesday in a series of attacks involving drones and explosives in two regions of Colombia, as armed groups continue to employ unmanned aircraft against security forces and the country records a growing number of mass displacement events. The first attack occurred at the former Tunía toll station in […]

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 […]