Latest from Colombia

U.S President Donald Trump triggered a political firestorm in Colombia after announcing on Truth Social the immediate suspension of all financial aid and imposition of punitive tariffs on Colombian exports, after branding President Gustavo Petro an “illegal drug leader.” The extraordinary statements mark one of the lowest points in 200 years of bilateral relations, and which for decades has depended on security cooperation and shared strategic interests.

In an extraordinary escalation that threatens to end decades of strategic partnership, U.S. President Donald J. Trump on Sunday labeled Colombian President Gustavo Petro an “illegal drug leader” and announced the immediate suspension of U.S. financial aid to Colombia.

A wave of coordinated protests and building occupations by the social movement known as the “Congress of the Peoples” has raised alarms in Bogotá this week, after Interior Minister Armando Benedetti claimed that “criminal structures” are behind the unrest, pointing to alleged infiltration by armed groups, most notably the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla.

Colombia’s National Police captured a top Venezuelan of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, hours after a second fugitive jumped to his death from his luxury apartment in Medellín. The recent offensive against TdeA comes as the leftist government of President Gustavo Petro also ruled out any possibility of peace talks with the transnational gang. The United States also carried out a fifth deadly strike on suspected narco vessels off the coast of Venezuela on Tuesday, showing – once again – Washington’s willingness to use military force far from its shores.

For centuries, the funerary masks of Colombia’s Eastern Andes have guarded their secrets. Crafted from resin, clay, wax, maize, and adorned with delicate beads, these masks were fitted so precisely to the faces of the dead that the mummified bodies appeared almost alive. Between the 13th and 18th centuries, the Muisca — an Indigenous civilization that once flourished across what is today Bogotá, with its high-altitudeSabana, and the department of Boyacá – developed elaborate burial rites that fused artistry with spiritual belief. Their masks were more than ornaments: they were portals between the living and the afterlife, preserving identity even as bodies were interred.

Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro has ordered the expulsion of Israel’s entire diplomatic mission from Bogotá after two Colombian women were detained during an Israeli raid on a humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza. But the decision has sparked a volatile backlash on the streets of the capital, where a rash of vandalism and inflammatory graffiti has alarmed residents, business leaders and members of the foreign diplomatic corps.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has admitted that he cannot communicate with other world leaders without a translator. His lack of English fluency, seemingly trivial, becomes emblematic of a deeper problem: Petro struggles to engage with global debates on their own terms.

Colombia is experiencing one of the sharpest demographic shifts in its history, with birthrates plunging by over a third in the last decade, raising concerns over the country’s economic future and the strain an aging population could place on public services.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro used his final address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 23 to deliver a blistering denunciation of U.S. foreign policy and President Donald Trump, calling for criminal charges against the  U.S. leader, and accusing Washington of complicity in genocide.

Bogotá is in the mood for art again. This week, the Colombian capital hosts ARTBO, its international art fair and one of the most polished cultural events in Latin America’s calendar. What began in 2004 as a local initiative to strengthen the city’s creative industries has matured into a fair with international pull, bringing together galleries, collectors, curators and a growing public eager to see what’s new.