Former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commanders have for the first time in Colombian history freely admitted the armed group’s role in recruiting more than 18,677 children during five decades of their armed conflict with the state.

In a five-page document signed by Rodrigo Londoño, alias ‘Timochenko’, and five other demobilized senior leaders, the former fighters recognized their role in forcing minors into a life under arms.

Colombia’s peace court, known as the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), had previously determined that the six defendants, all former members of the FARC secretariat, carried responsibility for the crimes of recruitment of minors under 15 years of age, mistreatment torture and murder of children, sexual and reproductive violence, and prejudice against minors with diverse sexual orientations or gender identities.

See also: Peace plan has caused more conflict, says thinktank.

In the letter to the court the six defendants admitted the acts and asked for forgiveness.

“There are no words to repair these deeds,” said Londoño in a televised address widely circulated this week. “Today with honesty and clarity we recognize our role.”

“We ask forgiveness from direct and indirect victims, and from society in general.”

Londoño, who was the FARC’s last field commander up until the peace signing, said he recognized that the rebel’s actions had “stolen childhoods” as young combatants faced constant fear and death.

Historical whitewashing

Londoño also acknowledged that “the homicides, forced abortions, acts of gender-based violence, and reproductive violence caused serious physical and psychological damage that still persists”.

The statement was a milestone in Case 07 of Colombia’s JEP, the special court charged with untangling crimes committed by all sides during the state conflict with the FARC.

Case 07 was opened in 2019 and has since officially recognized 18,677 victims, of which 54 per cent are children themselves recruited, and 46 per cent families who lost children to the conflict.

Other actors in Colombia’s armed conflict have used minors as well. According to Crisis Group, “right-wing paramilitary groups” counted some 2,800 children within their ranks when they demobilized in the mid-2000s.

Historically the FARC whitewashed their role in the recruitment of minors, and during the 2016 peace process vigorously denied accusations of abducting children or threatening families to hand over their children.

According to the FARC’s own narrative, many young recruits joining the Marxist guerrilla group were “volunteers escaping poverty”. The leadership traditionally downplayed reports of sexual abuse, forced abortions and the murders and disappearances of children as political propaganda.

As recently as 2015, FARC commanders were claiming that the armed group “under no circumstance recruited children, or anyone else, forcefully,” according to a Human Rights Watch report critical of the guerrilla’s position.

Never coming home

HRW’s own investigations had identified victims as young as 12 who were tied up by the guerrillas and threatened to be killed if they tried to resist. In other cases, kids were tricked with offers of presents or cash before being forced to fight under arms.

The report also cited cases of older commanders abusing girls as young as 12 in some incidents forcing them to use contraception or to have abortions.

According to JEP data presented under Case 07, child victims were present in the FARC ranks across 16 departments of Colombia, almost the whole territory controlled by the guerrilla group at its peak. Recruitment peaked between 1999 and 2013 but continued to 2016, the year of the peace accord between the rebels and the state.

Accredited to the case were 2,000 individual victims recruited as children but now adults, the JEP announced this week.

Also part of the group were families of 485 children recruited into the ranks who “never returned home”. The JEP had joined with the UPBD (Unidad de Búsqueda de Personas dadas por Desaparecidas) missing persons unit to try and locate the remains of those missing persons.

Details from Case 07 also highlighted the large numbers of minors taken from indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, with 9,000 registered victims from six ethnic groups.

Restorative Justice

According to JEP proceedures, FARC leaders’ statements this week were an important step forward in the restorative justice process. The special peace court works with a system of dialogues between accused perpetrators and victims.

Information released by the court this week defined Case 07 as still in the dialogue phase with both private and public audiences were expected in the future where victims would given the opportunity to recount their experiences.

In line with previous cases, the former FARC leaders, could chose to respond to the crimes in front of the victims. Any punishment could come in the form of an eight-year sentence of restricted liberties for the former FARC leaders, though not jail time.

As part of the sentence the JEP might recommend restorative programs – a form of social work – in agreements made with the victims.   

For its part, the former FARC secretariat announced its full support for this process. In a taped statement former commander Julián Galló also accepted his role in the crimes.

“Our compromise is to work in the future so that hopefully these cases don’t keep on occurring,” he said.

Circular problem

Repetition was already happening, according to a report published last month by Crisis Group called Kids on the Front Lines: Stopping Child Recruitment in Colombia. According to the Brussels-based think tank, the practice had “boomed in the last decade” even since the FARC demobilized under the peace process in 2016.

A new generation of armed groups still relied on minors to maintain territorial control, said the report, with 620 cases reported in 2024: “Children carry out high-risk tasks, suffer abuse, and are punished with death if caught escaping.”

Ruthless gangs were using social media posts to reel vulnerable youngsters into the conflict with false promises of wealth, status and protection, said Crisis Group. Families faced reprisals if they spoke out, the report added.

And with increased competition between fractionated armed groups, minors were being pushed to the front lines: “Kids now fight in high-risk combat roles.”

Colombia’s circular problem of child recruitment was highlighted this week by JEP magistrate Lily Rueda, presiding over Case 07, in conversation with El Espectador. The message from the peace courts was “more relevant then ever” after data from UNICEF showed that the recruitment of children in Colombia had increased by 300% in the last five years.

“This is an opportunity to reiterate our commitment to investigating and prosecuting these acts of violence against children, which constitute war crimes and are not subject to amnesty, not even in the context of peace agreements,” she said

“Victims who survived recruitment in the past should not be victimized again by the recruitment of their own sons and daughters in the present day.”

The post Former FARC chiefs ask forgiveness for forcing children into the guerrilla ranks appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Health authorities have activated over 200 free vaccination points across the city this week after two measles cases were reported.

The highly contagious virus, which is airborne and can cause serious health problems for young children, was detected in travelers from Mexico who had arrived in Bogotá and then fallen ill. Another imported case was found outside the capital.

In response the city’s District Health Secretariat said it had activated protocols to isolate the cases and had laboratories on hand to help with tracking any potential spread in the city.

Bogotá’s health secretary Gerson Bermont emphasized the need for a swift response: “Bogotá has all the infrastructure and human resources to provide technical support for diagnostic processes, he said. “The key is to act promptly to reduce local transmission.”

Measles was one of the most contagious viruses in existence and could be transmitted even by breathing, he warned. The best protection was with the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine, with two doses 97% effective at preventing the disease. The three people reported this week were unvaccinated.

In June last year U.S. embassies around the world took the unusual step of issuing a warning that measles was an “ongoing global risk” and advised citizens going abroad to get jabbed.

“Travelers can catch measles in many travel settings including travel hubs like airports and train stations, on public transportation like airplanes and trains, at tourist attractions, and at large, crowded events,” said the notice.

“Infected travelers can bring the disease back to their home communities where it can spread rapidly among people who are not immune.”

Good coverage

Recent data from the U.S. Centre for Disease Control (CDC) showed outbreaks in every region of the world with high caseloads in Mexico, Yemen, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Angola and Laos.

 The World Health Organization (WHO)  declared Colombia free of measles in 2014, after intensive campaigns across the country by vaccination teams brought MMR to remote corners of the country.

Measles vaccine coverage in the country was 93 per cent for the first dose, according to data on the WHO immunization dashboard, a reasonable result for a country with access challenges for health teams

Bogotá last saw cases in 2019, when 11 persons were affected by the disease, according to data from the city’s Observatorio de Salud.  

To avoid local spread from the imported cases this week, more than 200 vaccination points were activated across the city, with details in this link of locations and opening times. Most of the sites are in existing health facilities though all are welcome and the measles vaccine is free.

The city health authorities were offering free immunization with the triple MMR vaccines (measles, mumps and rubella) known in Colombia as SRP (sarampión, rubéola y paperas) or a double vaccine of SR (just measles and rubella). Any unvaccinated or partially vaccinate person between six months old and 60 years old was encouraged to get jabbed.

The risk to Colombia “could not be underestimated” Bermont told Blu Radio this week.

“It’s bad news what’s happening in the Americas,” he said. “Last year there were 15,000 measles cases across the region. Just in Mexico there were 32 deaths”.

Bermont said mass immunization was the best method to avoid an outbreak, but region had become vulnerable from anti-vax messaging by pressure groups that gained influence during the Covid-19 pandemia.  

“We have to also recognize that today there are also health authorities in the world that throw doubt on the effectiveness of the vaccine.”

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In the north of Bogotá, a new restaurant offers an experience that exists nowhere else in Latin America. 

Sombras, or ‘shadows’, is a high-end eatery run entirely by blind people, offering a unique experience that aims to raise awareness about sight loss and the challenges faced by those living with this condition.

For 90 minutes, diners are provided a sensory experience through a six-course menu while sitting in complete darkness

This project, part of the Seratta Group, costs approximately 325,000 COP (around US$88) and seats around 20 people at a time.

According to the DANE (National Administrative Department of Statistics), in 2025, the labor gap for people with disabilities was critical: roughly 80% of the population was unemployed. Of the 20% who are employed, many relied on informal work as a way of living.

Accordingly, Sombra’s primary goal is to increase job opportunities for people with visual impairment, even offering a ‘BLINDKEDIN’ on their website to promote inclusion in workspaces and bridge the gap between companies and workers.

Into the unknown

Entering the restaurant, guests are asked to place their belongings in lockers as one of the hosts voice announces, “The main ingredient is trust.” Cellphones, smartwatches, or any other distracting items are forbidden from being used in Sombras. Bags are stored as well, so as not to create obstacles as the staff move around the room unassisted. 

Right ahead is the path to darkness; the atmosphere is filled with fear, expectation, curiosity, and excitement. Not knowing what lies inside, guests must simply walk into the unknown.

Taking small steps, hands over the shoulders of a man simply identified as ‘Agent X,’ diners are shown to their seat. Finally, they are left alone at a table that can only be perceived through touch.

A mix of music, played by a blind DJ, is the perfect accompaniment to the dishes and cocktails placed down one by one. 

Each course is served while a voice guides the guests through the dark: “Take this, move your hand to the left.” 

Scenarios described over speakers guide guests through different worlds, prompting them to reflect on how they perceive the dark. Some courses are designed to evoke childhood memories; as diners eat, the flavors, aromas, and narrations conjure up images of their grandmother’s warm soup or the salty smell of seaside holidays. 

Without the visual cue of the food, flavors meld in novel ways, and everything tastes more intense.  

Between courses, a sense of emptiness can settle in. While the mind tries to imagine colors, dimensions, and even the appearance of fellow diners, the silence and darkness produce a feeling of loneliness and a sense of nothingness. Time passes, but without a watch, it is impossible to measure. 

One cycles through intense feelings and emotions as the brain fights to understand what is happening around it. Placed in the shoes of those who live in darkness every day, guests soon realize they can effortlessly perform the ritual of eating without opening their eyes.

Beyond sight

Following the experience, the hosts revealed themselves. 

John Jairo García and Jonathan Benavides (who is responsible for personalizing the ‘Agent X’ character) are in charge of guiding guests through the journey; both men are blind and were trained to lead visitors through an immersive experience of self-reflection, self-knowledge, and incredible food.

“I am here because God gave me the opportunity. Before this, I used to work on the streets… I sang on buses, and I was also an informal street vendor,” García told The Bogotá Post after the experience. Benavides added that before joining the team, he worked as an informal door-to-door salesman.

“We try not only to serve food but to move hearts and emotions. The social perspective in our country toward people with disabilities. In this case, visual impairment is very biased,” confirmed Jonathan during the interview.

At the end, the staff arrives with a message, they invite you to be thankful for seeing colors, for seeing the world that surrounds you. As some tears begin to fall, the last reflection is a call to empathy: “Change your way of thinking and your whole life will change”.

In fact, the blind dining experience at Sombras forces more than self-reflection; it triggers a biological change in the visitor. According to research hosted by the National Library of Medicine, the adult brain has a “rapid plasticity” that triggers almost immediately when vision is blocked. In the 90 minutes spent at Sombras, diners begin to perceive the world through their other senses, assigning “visual power” to taste and touch.

Through this experience, guests can truly empathize – if only for a brief moment – with what it means to lose vision. 

“We try to make the people who visit our restaurant understand that we, even with a disability, can also be useful to society,” concluded Jonathan.

The post Dining in the dark: Inside Latin America’s only restaurant run by blind people appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Urban art has many benefits, from the colour it adds to our streets to the space it gives for political and social expression. But a more tangible benefit could be seen at a recent art auction organised by Lure media and Galería Beta, where a number of works went under the hammer to raise money for charity.

Galería Beta’s Daniela Camero Rosso told us, “I believe that urban artists are always eager to help and you see that in the fact that they are always giving workshops, and of course in the fact that they are painting on the streets and that they want to get their message across to people without getting any money in return.”

Art from DJLU, Toxicómano, Juegasiempre, Erre and others was up for auction in front of an audience that included the great and the good of the city’s art world.

Daniela added, “These are amazing artists in the Colombian arts scene and the Latin American arts scene, and the fact that they were willing to help was another thing that made the auction beautiful.”

The aim of the auction was to raise money for Fundación Pescador de Letras, which works within a disadvantaged community in Cartagena offering education and social development programmes to 120 children aged 3-12.

Daniela said that the event had been a success, thanks to the Calle 93 venue and the great artists and galleries who made people want to go and support such a worthy cause. “Of course, they get a beautiful piece of art in return for their support, which is a win-win situation,” she said.

Events like this are also important, she added, because they help to change the perception of urban art in Colombia which – although still considered by some to be vandalism – ought to be valued as highly as other forms of art. 

The post Going, going, gone appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Colombian Pacific music is on the rise thanks to the growing popularity of the Petronio Álvarez Pacific Music Festival. The Bogotá Post spoke to musicians and industry professionals to find out why. 

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Hundreds of thousands are expected to attend this year’s Petronio Alvárez Pacific Music festival, a celebration of Colombian Pacific music which will take place in Cali from August 14 to 19.

We spoke to Diego Gómez, Llorona Records founder and producer, who is also a traditional Colombian music veteran, about the rise in popularity of Pacific sounds.

The post Is 2019 the start of a new era for Colombian Pacific folk music? appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

The Bogotá Post visits rural communities in Colombia’s most forgotten corner and hears first-hand how armed groups continue to terrorise rural communities.

Sarah Lapidus

W

hen the Colombian government signed the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC, many thought the conflict was over. But the FARC’s conversion from an armed group to a political party has left a power vacuum in rural areas where their guerrillas were once present.

Filling this gap are drug gangs, re-emerging guerrilla groups, and shadowy armed groups. And, as in the past, these fighters are now targeting civilians and small-scale farmers, often from both afro-Colombian and indigenous communities.

Those who speak out are most at risk. According to the Defensora del Pueblo, since the start of 2016, over 460 social leaders have been assassinated. 

So even as communities struggle to adapt to the post-conflict era, and preserve the memories of the victims from decades of state conflict with the FARC, new threats are on the rise.

Nowhere is this more apparent than Alto Guayabal, a village and Emberá Katío indigenous reserve set in the rainforest of Chocó, Colombia’s wildest and most westerly department.

“The conflict  has worsened. The ELN guerillas continue to commit crimes, assassinate and carry out kidnappings. Also, the paramilitaries, like the AGC, are stronger than ever. There has been little political effort, especially by our president, Iván Duque,” 22-year-old local activist Larry Mosquera tells The Bogotá Post during the second Festival de Memoria held in Alto Guayabal. 

The annual festival is organised by the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP), a human rights nonprofit watchdog. The commission has also assisted the Embera community to create a humanitarian zone where – in theory – armed groups are banned. However, that ban is proving hard to enforce: in the weeks before our visit the indigenous community had reported gangs with guns terrorising villagers. 

But even with these recent threats, the Festival de Memoria goes ahead in Alto Guayabal, bringing together dozens of people from all sides of the conflict – ex-military, ex-FARC, and civilian victims – to share their stories.

A chance to speak out

Also present are delegates from Colombia’s Truth Commission, whose role is to listen and gather victim’s stories. It is part of the transitional justice agreement born from the FARC’s peace process with the state.

Danilo Rueda, the national coordinator of the CIJP, addresses attendees in the communal gathering hut: “The goal is for everyone to recount what they have experienced and what they feel, without accusing anyone,” he says. “This is about having a conversation, because we are convinced that through dialogue we can construct a different country. Words heal the soul.”

A Truth Commission delegate stands up to ask the group, “not to judge others, but simply to understand what is happening in society and how we were able to stop the war.” 

The conflict victims we talk to are grateful for the chance to tell their stories in front of the Truth Commission delegates, but they also worry that as they look back at the old conflict, a new one is emerging. For some it feels that the war never ended.  

“For us, there is no peace,” says Jorge Eliezer, sitting next to his partner in one of the communal huts. Armed men have threatened to kill him.

“They killed my cow, took our food, and fumigated our land,” he says. “And still, the government hasn’t kicked them out yet. They haven’t fulfilled their promise of land redistribution. The businesses are still there, and they look for intermediaries to enter [our territories] to rob us.” 

His story follows a narrative common in Colombia, according to human rights groups, whereby people with business and commercial interests use armed groups to threaten small-scale farming and indigenous communities, all part of a plan to force them to give up their land or sell it at a low price. 

In their effort to dislodge farmers from their properties, these gangs will escalate their threats to murder and massacres. Fear of these attacks can displace thousands of people and even whole communities. 

The CIJP has documented dozens of these types of threats and attacks. In fact the week following the Festival de Memoria, seven militia entered the community in a failed attempt to murder indigenous Embera community leader Bernado Zapilla. He was kidnapped and injured after being mistaken for another community member. They were thought to be members of the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), one of the powerful armed groups that has grown since the peace deal was signed.  

Keep pushing for peace

Meanwhile, victims displaced by previous waves of violence are still waiting for financial reparation and restitution of land previously stolen. 

Many barriers still exist to getting back to their land, explains 16-year-old Diomedes Daveiba: “We want to return to where we were living before, but we can’t return. There are too many mines. We want them to clean up the mines on the roads, but there is no effort by the government.”

Meanwhile in the midst of continued conflict, communities like Alto Guayabla keep pushing for peace, explains El Espectador columnist Laura Mendoza, also taking part.

“In Colombia we talk about constructing peace. This event is constructing peace. None of us work alone in supporting the process, in raising awareness. There is a lot of work being done despite the continuous violence,” she explains. 

It’s a theme taken up by Larry Mosquera. Despite the continued violence, assassinations and fear in the community, he underlines the need to keep going. 

“The situation is very sad, but in the rural communities we continue to resist and fight for true and sustainable peace.”

The post Post-conflict: No peace in the Chocó appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Bogotá Art District: A taste of some of the visual delights on offer in San Felipe.

Emily Hastings

There’s been a mini art revolution brewing in San Felipe for some years now. With 16 galleries in what’s become known as the Bogotá Art District, or BAD, the small zone has become a hub of creativity.

It’s not quite the Soho of Bogotá – or Boho as it should probably be called – but the creative community is already a firm fixture on the city’s art landscape. Indeed, San Felipe is one of the three districts to be included in the ARTBO weekend circuits.

What takes me there on a rainy Saturday is ‘Experimenta el Arte’, an event organised by Lure media (the team behind the comprehensive Living in Bogota guide). Lure’s boss, Boris Kruijssen tells me, “After we received several requests, we decided to move into organising experiences – we want to help people to uncover some of the city’s hidden secrets.”

The walking tour began at Galería Beta, which is run by Daniela Camero Rosso. She gives us a potted history of San Felipe, and explains that the man behind the area’s artistic development is architect and patron of many Colombian artists, Alejandro Castaño.

“This collector succeeded in getting various of us to move into the barrio, and then the other galleries started to come in a natural way,” she explained.

We were lucky enough to visit Castaño’s private collection – an Aladdin’s cave with practically every inch of wall (and indeed floor and parts of the ceiling) crammed with the work of artists from all over the continent. Camero told us that Castaño has supported a number of Colombian artists from their early days and continues to do so, a passion that shines through in the sheer volume of art. From videos in cubby holes to a dragonfly that flickers to life; chanting miniature crowds brought alive through a vinyl record to paper guns carved into the pages of a book; at every step and every turn there’s something else to catch your eye.

The two floors of Camero’s Beta gallery reflect the two sections of their collection. “One of modern art,” Camero enthuses. “That branch is focussed on contemporary art, particularly abstract and conceptual art.” We see this downstairs in Diego Mendoza’s woodblock prints showing an upside-down world of trees and machinery.

Upstairs, we are transported to the colours of La Candelaria with the familiar styles of well-known graffiti artists like CRISP and DJ Lu. Awash with colour, the urban art branch of the gallery opened two years ago. Camero says, “Our goal is to promote art more in open spaces, not only in closed ones.” That’s why they have done 15-20 interventions, when art takes over a public space as a sort of pop-up gallery area, within the neighbourhood.

The SGR gallery is a different beast entirely. We are greeted by a mess of melted wax chairs in front of a static screen – mirrored on the other side of the room by rows of pristine chairs lined up in front of a screen showing a chair. A symbol for nations of couch potatoes melting into images of themselves?

The galleries are not the only interesting thing about San Felipe. If you haven’t yet discovered Chichería Demente, an open plan restaurant that opened a few months ago, you are in for a treat. I’d go back time and again for their zucchini fries and palmitos frescos alone.

If the fries can’t tempt you, San Felipe is simply a must for anyone who wants to get a better feel for contemporary Colombian art.

Check it out:

Galleries of San Felipe: FLORA ars + natura, SKETCH, Instituto de vision, Liberia, Casa 4, 12:00, Galería Beta, Permanente, Rincón Projects, Estudio 74, Casa Valhalla, SGR, Espacio KB, Estudio 101, Plural, Fundación Arkhé.

 

If you are thinking about checking out the big BAD art district, Camero recommends the noches de San Felipe (@nochesanfelipe). Every two months, all of the galleries open their doors between 7pm-10pm.

Lure will also organising activities in San Felipe from June onwards. Contact them on info@luremediagroup.co or instagram @lurecityguide to find out more.

The post Not half BAD appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

During the last six years e-commerce in Colombia has increased remarkably.

According to a study published by the Colombian Chamber of E-Commerce, approximately 82% of the Colombian population over the age of 15 years now is online every day of the week.

Growth of e-commerce has occurred in all segments of society, despite challenges faced by the most vulnerable of the country’s population. Smartphones are the first means by which users in the country transact online (93%), followed by laptops (36%), desktops (28%), smart televisions (16%), and tablets (11%).

What’s been the impact of COVID-19 on Colombian e-commerce?

The arrival of the coronavirus has had an impact worldwide, Colombia not withstanding. For example, in Colombia’s capital of Bogota, messaging and home services have increased by 28%, a higher figure compared to last March.

In a study carried out by MercadoLibre, 4 out of 10 Colombians had changed their purchasing habits through e-commerce as a result of COVID-19.

In the last four weeks in the country, there’s been a reported increase of 190,000 searches related to products in health categories such as face masks (10 million), antibacterial (3.5 million, gel alcohol (8.5 million), thermometers (1 million ) among others.

Searches related to products for health protection have increased 11x more than usual. Purchases of basic necessities have also increased, specifically groceries, personal hygiene products and medications.

In total MercadoLibre’s platform registered more than 1.7 million new users in Latin America. Since Covid’s arrival in the region, of which 56% made at least 1 or 2 purchases within the platform, 20% made at minus 2 purchases and 24% made more than 3 purchases.

E-commerce has increased over 1000% in past decade

In 2018 Colombia ranked fourth in Latin America in sales via e-commerce, with $6 billion USD in sales being recorded.

Adobe, the Fortune 500 tech behemoth, this past quarter partnered with Medellin multinational Talos Digital in a collaboration aiming to expand e-commerce footprints in Latin America. According to Talos, the e-commerce market in Latin America will reach $70 billion USD in 2020.

While there are a number of ways e-commerce needs to improve in the region, including in shipping and transportation, the region has been consolidating itself into one of the most attractive markets in the world.

By 2021, e-commerce retail sales in Colombia are expected to exceed $ 10 billion, thus bringing the country to the same level as countries like Argentina and Mexico. Brazil today remains the country with the highest sale of e-commerce in Latin America.

The post A look into Colombia’s e-commerce industry in the time of COVID-19 appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

And now for something completely different.

It may boggle the mind, but there are apparently people out there who prefer to drink alcoholic beverages that aren’t beer. While those people are unequivocally wrong, it is worth pointing out that cider is also a lovely and enjoyable alcoholic refreshment, and that you can get hold of Colombia’s first ever cider right here in the capital. 

In 2013, Aotearea New Zealander Dan Hill was looking for an excuse to stay in Colombia after his contract with the country’s Air Force was up. He’d been in Colombia for three years by then, and it occurred to him that one thing this country didn’t seem to have, just as its craft beer industry was about to take off, was a cidery. Cider was booming in the States and the UK at the time and he couldn’t understand for the life of him why no one had really given it a crack here. He was introduced by his rugby teammate to Jairo Andrés Venegas, a local cricket and rugby fanatic (first Colombian wicketkeeper to represent the national team), and by the end of the year, they were working on the beginnings of Golden Lion Cider. Eight years later, the pair now run one of Bogotá’s biggest craft booze success stories.

Hailing from the small town of Timaru, just south of Christchurch, Dan has a background in homebrewing and spent five years in England before arriving here in Bogotá. As the cidery’s slogan quite literally states, that’s where the inspiration originally came from. 

Starting the country’s first ever cider business hasn’t been nearly as straightforward as one might have expected it to be. Invima (Colombia’s national medication, food and beverage regulator) threw up hurdle after hurdle (even at one stage claiming that the product needed to be made in a specific area of Europe in order to be called cider) at the trailblazers. At one stage they spent eight months just paying rent and awaiting certification before being able to sell their product. Dan and Andrés insisted on playing it by the book and in 2017, they finally managed to sell the country’s first ever nationally licensed bottle of cider. 

There’s no argument that it was worth the wait though. Golden Lion currently has the capacity to pump out 10,000L of cider a month and their product can be found all over the city, including on the shelves of Carulla. Dan still hopes that he and Andrés can grow their influence over Colombian drinking preferences, and the former seems to welcome any future competition with open arms – ‘The difficult thing is getting people to try cider in the first place’, he says. ‘The more cider that’s here, the more likely people are to try it.’

The cider

Golden Lion Cider is made with apple juice imported from Chile and Argentina. They use a mix of juice from six different varieties of apples, in order to blend in varying degrees of acidity, sweetness and bitterness. The fermentation is slow and controlled over 4-5 weeks to maximise flavour and quality consistency.

The cider starts off sweet with a touch of bitterness to follow, before a tart, dry after-taste. It’s refreshing, as crisp as the apples it’s made from, and perfect for those glorious Bogotá days when the sun’s out. 

How to get ‘em

Other than popping into your local Carulla, the easiest way to get hold of Golden Lion is to jump on their website. They sell by six-pack, 12 pack and cases of 24, which will set you back COP$30,000, $50,000 and $95,000 respectively. Delivery goes out within 48 hours (except for 

weekends) and generally costs around $6,000, depending on where you are. Various pubs also have it on tap.

You can pay through the website or directly into the company’s Bancolombia account.

The post Golden lion cider: not beer but delicious appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Latin America (LATAM) is currently at a pivotal point for Venture Capital (VC). The region had a hallmark year in investment in 2021, but as they say—what goes up, must come down. 

The region isn’t alone in its investment slowdown, however. Overall, global venture funding is down significantly, according to Crunchbase—mostly as a result of numbers being compared to record highs. And naturally, when records are set, a slowdown is not only predictable but is sometimes even projected. 

This past spring, the Latin American Business Associations (LABA) VC conference made this very prediction for LATAM’s regional market. Leaders forecasted this partly because LATAM still lacks a lot of the entrepreneurial infrastructure that startups need, such as more seed investors and better infrastructure. 

But not all hope is lost. 

In an interview with Bloomberg Linea, Carlos Ramos De la Vega, the VC director for LAVCA, an association for private capital in Latin America, said there is still a positive outlook for LATAM. According to the association’s data, 2022 is already the region’s second-strongest year for LATAM’s VC—meaning that the movements made by founders and investors on the ground floor will be critical for where the business sector lands at the end of 2022.

For Colombia, this slowdown could actually be an excellent opportunity to achieve certain benchmarks that need to improve in order to be more competitive in the LATAM VC landscape. 

Fostering the growth of its technological infrastructure, building strategies that help pique the interest of both local and international investors, and developing a supportive network for entrepreneurs on the ground floor will help Colombia evolve into a more mature player in the  LATAM business ecosystem.

Stage 1: Fostering Colombia’s Technological Boom

As of 2022, Colombia is one of the top economic contenders in LATAM alongside Mexico and Brazil, and the country’s economic year in 2021 blew away forecasts—growing at the fastest pace seen in more than a century. This has a lot to do with the country quickly getting on board with digital implementation, allowing modern industry to hit its stride. With much of Colombia’s economic rebound between 2021-2022 due to the technology industry, the country is experiencing a technological renaissance.

Out of the roughly 50 million Colombians, nearly 34 million started using the Internet following the onset of the pandemic, of which about 22 million then became regular online shopping users. According to the Colombian Chamber of Electronic Commerce (CCCE), in 2021, eCommerce remained at levels of more than double what was registered in 2019—even when physical stores had reopened their doors.

“The e-commerce sector went from being considered as a complementary sales channel to becoming the engine for economic reactivation,” said María Fernanda Quiñones, executive president of the Colombian Chamber of Electronic Commerce (CCCE).

This interest in the digital interface is good for innovation and local startups looking to lead the technological transformation. Yet, only 2% of Colombian companies carry out cross-border operations through electronic channels—making for some seriously untapped potential in the country’s online market. The CCCE is one governmental entity currently taking steps to implement infrastructure that will help get the ball rolling for companies wishing to digitize operations. 

“We recently launched eXporta.online, a free digital platform which is sponsored by Google. The platform seeks to prepare people, medium to small enterprises, and entrepreneurs for cross-border electronic commerce,” continued Quiñones. 

The platform analyzes close to 1,517 data points collected from different sources such as the World Bank, UNCTAD, and International Trade Center, among others. The data then creates an automated process that provides recommendations for the three best destination market options for companies who are looking to start utilizing eCommerce. The engine chooses these destinations based on the ideal confluence of demand, market stability, eCommerce, language, and access to that company’s product.

“Through cross-border e-commerce, businesses have the opportunity to diversify their market and not depend solely on the local economy,” said Quiñones. “In addition, strategic alliances can be created abroad that allow businesses to gain experience and become more competitive, expand opportunities, and increase their sales capacity.”

Digitizing commerce will be vital for ensuring that Colombia can remain competitive within the larger regional and international business markets. Now technologically primed and ready, the country can provide new opportunities to startups hailing from the country.

Stage 2: Transitioning Colombian VC From Seed to Series A 

Within the last decade, VCs from all over have been looking to Colombia for investments. Thanks to startups showing significant growth in both size and number, the VC sphere in the country has seen a noteworthy upward trend. 

This is backed by 2021’s numbers, as Colombia increased its overall value of funding to $1.24 billion—making for a 144% increase compared to 2020. Rappi is one example from the country that has helped to prove Colombian startups have the capacity to increase their valuations tenfold and build multi-billion USD companies. 

But this unicorn was the first of its kind, and there are many other startups in the ecosystem wondering how they can also see this kind of success.

“Startups have to show their path to profitability,” says Diego Noriega, Managing Partner at Newtopia, a venture capital firm that has made 60% of its most recent investments in Colombia. “It doesn’t always have to be immediate, but investors are preferring startups that have done their homework in making their company robust and know how to scale themselves.” 

According to the most recent Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), carried out by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Colombia actually presents the best conditions for entrepreneurship out of all the countries in LATAM. Investors’ confidence in the country has also grown at a global level, with Colombia now ranking at 25 as an investment destination worldwide. 

Global investors often inspire the growth of capital into emerging markets. With international investor notoriety, a ripple effect in funding occurs, leading to investment from multiple local sources and leveling up the market. This gives growing startups access to the knowledge and resources it takes to scale globally. It also means that founders and their teams must step up to the new level of play.

“At the beginning of a startup’s lifecycle, trust (from investors) is built around the problem that the company is solving, as well as their internal team. But, for Series A the game changes dramatically,” says Noriega. “Startups are not going to reach Series A unless they can show metrics that they can do so. There is no magic trick to fast-track this. Companies must achieve revenues and growth rates that show traction to get the interest from VCs who invest at this level.”

The next critical step for Colombia’s emerging businesses is to show investors that they have what it takes to climb the investment ladder from the seed stages to Series A—helping to propel the country to new entrepreneurial heights.

Stage 3: Creating a Supportive Startup Ecosystem

With digital transformation well on its way, and increasing interest from local and foreign investors, Colombia’s last step in maintaining competitiveness in LATAM commerce will be to build a supportive network for startups and enterprises alike. This is especially important in the current funding drought, and even more critical for developing startups that are just coming into their own.

According to Embroker, about 70% of startups fail during years two to five. This phase of hardship is termed “The valley of death”, and typically occurs after the company launches a product but has not yet seen any revenue. For Colombian companies navigating these growing pains, experiential insight can go a long way.

“The CCCE understands the importance of the country’s medium to small enterprises. This is why we seek to create a large community of companies, brands, and people with immense relationship potential that everyone can benefit from,” said Quiñones. “Training is still needed to develop new skills for entrepreneurs in their digital appropriation process. Understanding the importance of business models in digital commerce will make it easier to complete and foster sustainable digital transformation over time.”

The CCCE offers asynchronous courses that guide business owners and entrepreneurs in the construction of their internationalization plans. By improving the business sector’s digital literacy, and working on the articulation of state policies, they hope to promote the adoption of technology to both mature and emerging companies.

Startups also need to understand how the global marketplace works in Colombia, and this is where more seasoned players can come in to help support young startups. The insight of those who have come before them will help emerging companies understand the complexities of the business market within Colombia. 

Newtopia, a hands-on VC firm based in Argentina, is helping to connect startups from either side of the growth spectrum in the Colombian community. One of the most active venture capital firms in LATAM, Newtopia, recently arrived in Colombia to join the country’s entrepreneurs as they find the right product-market fit. Newtopia offers a hands-on mentorship model that guides startups through the more vulnerable initial stages—helping them to grow sustainably.

“Early-stage growth is vital. Without this, it’s impossible to achieve later stages. Latin America is a higher-risk market because sometimes there is no traction and in some cases, no product or revenue—a risk not many VCs are willing to take. At Newtopia we aim to help build startup-to-startup relationships to create healthier local, and thereby regional, ecosystems.”

Each semester, the VC accepts 10-15 startups for a 10-week program, filled with content and advice to help teams take their startups to the next level. The aim of the program is to share knowledge, channel smart money, and enhance experiences for early-stage startups. This week, the VC hosted a demo day in the capital city of Bogota, bringing startups together to exchange knowledge on navigating Colombia’s startup ecosystem.

This limited partner (LP) day was an opportunity for Colombian startups to pitch to Newtopia´s team, plus LPs, and investors hailing from top VCs in the US. Up-and-coming Colombian startups such as Beu, Ubanku, Lizit, Creditop, Orkid, and Alfred were all a part of the session. 

A Future for Colombia’s Entrepreneurial Community 

For Colombia to continue its consistent climb as one of the region’s most viable markets for startups, young companies must show VCs that they can achieve bigger outcomes—which will allow the ecosystem as a whole to graduate to the next level. 

“We must work together, as a society, to articulate the factors that will lead us to a digital as well as an inclusive economy,” said Quiñones. “This will help to promote the country as a business leader in the region.”

The future of Colombia’s startup community is bright, but ensuring that each one of these stages is achieved along the way will help the country commence a new wave of impacting startups for both the LATAM and global markets. 

Disclaimer: This article mentions a client of an Espacio portfolio company. 

The post Fueling The Startup Ecosystem: The Stages of VC Evolution in Colombia appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Startups from every corner of the map had a tough time in 2022, with global VC funding down 69% from $70 billion in November 2021. In the European Union (EU), the aftershocks of this financial hit were felt unequally amongst its member countries, however, on account of an imbalanced startup ecosystem.

The majority of fundraising for EU startups takes place in the West, accounting for 60.4% of private equity in 2021, with Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) only receiving 1% of funding, according to the most recent data from Invest Europe. Widening the gap are structural disparities in access to technology and digitization amongst member countries.

According to a report by the European Commission, the EU needs to stay vigilant in its regulation of competition amongst its member states, especially in the current post-crisis rehabilitation. 

BEYOND, a consortium of investors and accelerators backed by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, is spearheading an initiative to help close the funding gap in Europe and establish a more cohesive and prosperous economic network. 

“We recognize the importance of balancing the opportunities provided to startups across the EU. If we don’t act now to narrow the gap between mature and emerging startup ecosystems, Europe’s business ecosystem as a whole will suffer,” said Jesus Tapia, Head of the ISDI Accelerator and one of the BEYOND partners.

“BEYOND is a platform that connects startups, investors, accelerators, and business mentors from across the EU and provides a framework for trust, collaboration, and sharing resources that will uplift emerging players, making the whole ecosystem stronger,” he said.

Equity in entrepreneurship

Europe offers a startup landscape much different from the US because its hubs of entrepreneurship aren’t concentrated in select cities, such as Silicon Valley. According to McKinsey, only 30% of European startups have located their headquarters to hubs such as Paris or Stockholm. 

With a completely decentralized startup space, a huge opportunity for new hubs to be established exists. This allows startups to establish themselves freely across locations and invites the opportunity for programs that encourage entrepreneur mobility. 

One such program is BEYOND, which was created by a consortium of partners across Europe, including: 

• Accelerace, a Scandinavian accelerator that’s helped to grow 800+ startups including Trustpilot, Templafy, and Densou. (Denmark) 
• ISDI Accelerator, the venture builder from one of Spain’s leading business schools. (Spain)
• FundingBox, a European Deep Tech funding ecosystem that counts over 470 startups accelerated and €80 million under management. (Denmark/Poland)
• Overkill Ventures, a leading Nordic-based angel fund investing up to €200,000 in early-stage companies. (Latvia) 
• XLRadar, an accelerator program in different verticals for pre-revenue startups that awards equity investments of up to €50,000 + follow-on as well as many added-value services. XLRadar is backed by Sofia-based venture capital firm Innovation Capital. (Bulgaria)

BEYOND is a platform where leading influencers from more developed ecosystems in Europe can help to create stronger pathways to lesser-known but still thriving startup ecosystems. 

Through its Virtual Accelerator Marketplace (VAM), the BEYOND platform directs investment flows from more developed ecosystems toward emerging ones, according to a press release shared with The Sociable. 

The VAM performs a variety of tasks to increase the effectiveness and dependability of investment between EU nations, thereby promoting a healthier, more diverse, and more inclusive network of startups within the larger EU business ecosystem.

Initiatives for inclusiveness

Startups have had their endurance tested by a multitude of factors in 2022, but none more so challenging than the funding lull. According to the consortium, filling out applications for funding opportunities from organizations such as the European Commission, as well as publicly available funding opportunities from VCs and corporations, can take founders as much as 150 hours. 

To try and mitigate this, some of the BEYOND program’s initiatives include: 

• The development of a cross-border funding passport, called OnePass, that streamlines startup fundraising while also making it easier for investors to invest in them. 
• An acceleration approach that can be used by both mature and emerging ecosystems to build trust and exchange resources. 
• A marketplace where platform partners’ resources are available to companies (including accelerators and investors). 
• A reward system for partners so they can profit from adding value for startups. 
• A global marketplace for startup investment.

OnePass will serve as a centralized platform, allowing startup founders to submit a single application to gain access to curated financing and funding opportunities, as well as customized mentoring, training, and acceleration while lowering the barriers to securing investment. 

Additionally, the OnePass funding passport provides investors with access to vetted, trustworthy entrepreneurs from all over Europe. Meanwhile, it assists accelerators and incubators in matching their programs with qualified applicants, providing certificates upon completion, and significantly reducing the amount of time applicants must spend on the application process.

Funding for all

Cross-integration between Europe’s mature and emerging markets will be vital for the future of entrepreneurialism in the union. 

By helping local startups secure funding from larger EU investors, initiatives such as BEYOND can inspire capital holders from Eastern Europe who have traditionally refrained from funding to be motivated to get into the VC game. This will encourage and attract founders to launch companies in more countries and can facilitate a more cohesive yet diverse ecosystem. 

Furthermore, the BEYOND program will help startups in the EU to achieve greater exposure and connections, while also enabling investors to get to know promising young businesses —  helping to build synergy amongst all of the EU’s players. 

Disclosure: This article mentions a client of an Espacio portfolio company.

The post There’s a funding gap for startups in Europe. BEYOND has launched to close it.  appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Applications for the prestigious scholarship programme opened this week and will close on May 12. 

The Fulbright Commission launched its 2023 scholarship scheme earlier this week, offering 51 Colombians the chance to study postgraduate degrees at some of the best universities in the United States. Applications opened on February 21 and will close on May 12. 

The Fulbright Commission is one of the biggest scholarship programmes in the world, offering funding to students from 157 countries. 

The Colombian branch of the initiative is jointly financed by the US State Department, the Colombian government, and a number of NGOs and political bodies from both countries. Last year it celebrated its 65th anniversary and since its launch, more than 5,200 students have received financial aid from the commission. 

The scheme aims to support students from groups underrepresented in academia, in particular first-generation scholars, women, indigenous peoples, people of Afro-Caribbean descent, and disabled people. There are also specific opportunities for those seeking to study a STEM subject at Master’s or PhD level. 

The nature of the scholarships depends on individuals’ programmes of choice, but in general, they cover all academic expenses, living costs, plane tickets, a basic insurance policy and visa costs. 

On completion of their degrees, Colombian Fulbright scholars are required to return to the country for at least two years during which time they should share the knowledge they have acquired during their time in the United States. 

The Executive Director of the commission, Diana Basto Castro said that the organisation is looking for people from across the country who will act as “agents of change” and who have a desire “to transform their lives and the lives of those in their communities”. 

Six forms of postgraduate scholarship are available:

• Minciencias scholarship: Up to 40 places available for people interested in research. 80% of recipients will be undertaking STEM degrees and at least 12 will belong to ethnic groups. 
• Scholarship for communities of Afro-descent: Three places are available for people from communities of raizales, palenqueras or of afro-descent. There is no restriction on degree subjects.
• Scholarship for agricultural and rural development: Three places are available for master’s students carrying out a research project focusing on cocoa production in Colombia. The scheme is part of the ‘acuerdo de cacao para la paz’ and aims to promote sustainable production and agricultural climate resilience.
• Indigenous communities scholarship: One place for a student from an indigenous community to study a master’s or PhD in any area of study. 
• Saldarriaga Concha scholarship: One spot for a student with a disability to carry out a master’s programme.
• J. William Fulbright scholarship for the mitigation of climate change: Three opportunities for students undertaking degrees focusing on adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. 

Candidates are required to have completed an undergraduate degree before 31st December 2022 and have a qualification in English. 

There are also funding opportunities for English-teaching programmes and non-degree academic-professional development activities. 

More information about the scholarships is available at the Fulbright Commission’s website.

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Daniela Restrepo, a Colombian PR professional who lives in Pereira, who studied marketing and communication prior to working in international brand management and strategy execution, has been supporting companies in PR fro close to a decade, while also serving as a Mentor at the Founder institute.

For International Women’s Day, we had the opportunity to ask her for advice for founders looking to approach the Colombian media market, with a focus on female entrepreneurs.

Tell us what tips women entrepreneurs can use to start doing public relations for their startup. What would those first steps be to understand how to start connecting:

Public relations is an important element in supporting the reach and value of a brand for all stakeholders. All the corporate elements of the brand, from the tone and personality, the functional and emotional benefits, the central message, the final objective, and even its reputation -if they are fully harnessed with the internal and external public- can help to increase the performance, credibility and return of a brand or company.

Define your objective: What is the result you expect or seek from your efforts through public relations? Is it visibility? Do you want to position your CEO? Are you looking for traffic on your website?

Define your audience: Before you start creating any public relations strategy, you must clearly define who you are talking to. Who are they? What interests you? What problems do they face? This will help you create narratives and angles that resonate with them.

Create relevant and compelling stories: Good public relations is all about telling a fresh, interesting and compelling story around your industry. Identify the unique aspects of your venture and create coherent narratives aligned with your purpose.

Identify your relevant media: Investigate the media that are relevant to your business, specialized publications, podcasts, influencers, among others. Look for opportunities to connect, build relationships and collaborate with them, bringing actionable insights.

Connect with journalists: As you identify your relevant outlets, look for journalists who cover the issues related to your business and industry. You can follow them on social networks, initiate contact and keep them updated about the news of your venture.

Create quality content: The creation of quality content is a fundamental part of any public relations strategy. Publish articles on your blog, create infographics, post opinions about big news in your industry, and more. The key is to create content that is valuable and relevant to your audience.

Maintain an active presence on social networks: Social networks such as LinkedIn or Twitter are an excellent way to reach your audience and keep it updated.

Why and how can Social Media and Public Relations strategies create identity and credibility of my brand?
As I mentioned earlier, a recurring and well-executed social presence allows you to create relevant and useful content for your audience, which can increase your brand visibility and generate an emotional connection with followers.

On the other hand, a Public Relations strategy keeps you in permanent contact with journalists and the media, which can increase the exposure of your brand and establish it as a reliable source of information. Journalists often look for the prior presence of your startup in the media to verify its credibility, and an effective PR strategy can ensure that your brand is present and seen positively in those media.

Strategies to facilitate meetings between investors and audiences.
Attending industry events to which your venture belongs allows you to start building relationships, stay current, and be on the radar of investors and potential customers.
Apply to venture capital funds and investment programs in your country to present your business and get appointments with investors.

Enroll in pre-seed accelerators that accompany you throughout the process and help you shape your ideas and your final product/service.
Monitor the networks of the investors you are looking for, pay attention to your venture to find out their tastes and preferences.
Make a calendar of events relevant to your industry and the investors you are looking for, to provide more networking spaces.
How to identify which communication channels are best suited to my business model?
They say that if you don’t try, you’ll never know. This is the case with the different resources that you have available through a PR strategy, articles, blogs, podcasts, events, interviews, all of the above represents an opportunity to make your venture and your voice known. Many startups feel more affinity for speaking at interviews or events, others connect better with their audience through written articles. So I would not dare to say that there is a suitable channel for each business model, the more channels explored and a presence achieved, the better. Of course, always evaluating how linked it is to the objective sought with the PR actions.

How to stand out in the eyes of investors, press and clients?
Definitely, a solid public relations strategy focused on “brand awareness” or brand presence can be key to obtaining multiple benefits when looking for investors. By implementing this strategy, the press, investors and potential clients are provided with various sources of information about the news, capabilities and services of your venture.

Brand presence is essential for any business, since it allows consumers to easily identify the company, its products or services in the market. In addition to improving brand visibility, it can help build your business’s reputation and improve consumer trust; especially important factors when looking for investment.

Digital support tools that can be used to strengthen the media strategy and brand positioning.
Social networks

Web page

Blogging

Importance of the perception of the CEO’s image as accessible and close within storytelling.
The perception of the CEO’s image as accessible and close is crucial for a successful company. A CEO must be able to balance his leadership skills and business skills with the ability to learn and connect with his team on a personal level. Humility is essential to understand that a company depends on teamwork and the dedication of its employees.

In today’s business world, the image of a humane, inclusive, values-based CEO has become increasingly important. The way the CEO presents himself to the public and how he relates to his team and the media is crucial to the perception of his company and industry. A CEO who seeks to have an inclusive and positive impact not only on his company, but on society as a whole, is seen as an exceptional leader and is often admired by his employees and the community at large.

How to challenge gender stereotypes through egalitarian advertising, which includes the gender perspective in communication.
It is an important business responsibility that can have a significant impact on society, the team and the relationships between men and women and their roles within a company, providing equal value to both.

This can be mitigated by avoiding traditional gender roles, implementing and executing diversity programs in different areas of the company and having it reflected in company communications, empowering women on teams to discover their potential, emphasizing on gender equality as a premise and pillar of the company, and Considering both genders during decision-making in each company process are some of the things with which you can start to make a significant change from the inside out.

The rate of female entrepreneurship in Latin America in 2021 was described as one of the lowest according to the Mastercard Index of women entrepreneurs.

However, according to the data offered by the World Bank, female entrepreneurship in Latin America has reached 50% during the year 2022, data that encourages us to share information that trains in education related to the success of their projects, as well as giving visibility of them, so that every day the statistics grow in our favor.

The post Interview with Colombia PR pro Daniela Restrepo appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Colombia will head to the polls this year to elect the country’s next president and members of Congress. A report released this week by the Ombudsman’s Office found that the government is failing to implement over half of the watchdog’s recommendations to ensure safe and fair elections. 

On Monday, the office released a follow-up report to its October 2025 Electoral Early Warning (ATE 013-25), saying that around 42% of recommendations for safeguarding elections were being implemented.

Last June, the country made international headlines when pre-presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot in the head while holding a rally in Bogotá’s Modelia neighborhood. He would succumb to his injuries two months later. 

Since then, Ombudsman Iris Marín Ortiz’s office has registered 457 cases of death threats against social leaders, human rights defenders, and political actors in the pre-election period, which officially began in January 2025 when President Gustavo Petro convened his cabinet to decide which members would step down to run for elected office in 2026.

The report noted that candidates face ongoing risks, from constraints on campaigning in armed group–controlled areas to stigmatization, threats, and even homicide.

“The risk is not that the elections will be canceled,” said Marín, but rather that un-safeguarded elections could ignore the “forced silence of communities in the face of the governance of armed groups in some regions of the country.”

The Ombudsman’s report categorized municipalities into five risk levels from lowest to highest intensity of identified violence, in order to guide authorities on security, protection, and the safeguarding of political rights.

Two hundred fifty-seven were classified at Ordinary Action Level, 216 at Permanent Monitoring Level, 425 at Priority Action Level, 162 at Urgent Action Level, and 62 at Immediate Action Level — the most critical stage. In the follow-up Report, although the number of municipalities at Permanent Monitoring Level decreased (195), there was an increase in municipalities that required Priority Action (433), Urgent Action (168), and Immediate Action (69).

Political violence has continued in the period since Uribe Turbay’s death. Earlier in February, Senator Jairo Castellanos’s armored vehicle was attacked at an ELN rebel checkpoint in the northeastern Arauca department, killing two of his bodyguards. A few days later, Indigenous Senator Aida Quilcué was temporarily kidnapped in an area of western Cauca where FARC dissidents are active.

Upon reviewing the Government’s response, the highest rate of implementation for the 11 recommendations is 65% and the lowest is 0%. Strengthening and support for political organizations was the least advanced recommendation, followed by inter-institutional coordination and joint action for rapid response.

According to the Report’s conclusions, insufficient implementation of ATE 013-25 led to weak institutional coordination, allowed illegal armed groups to maintain control, jeopardized victims’ political participation in Special Transitional Peace Electoral Districts (CITREP), and perpetuated impunity through ineffective justice mechanisms.

The Ombudsman issued six new recommendations and reinforced the previous ones, urging the Ministry of the Interior to lead the Intersectoral Commission for Rapid Response to Early Warnings (CIPRAT), align action plans, ensure measurable budgets, and eliminate overlapping measures that cause operational gaps.

On March 8, Colombians will head to the polls for legislative elections where they’ll vote for representatives to the national congress, senate as well as primary elections where political parties will choose presidential candidates to represent them in the first round of presidential voting on May 31.

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Medellín, Colombia – On Thursday morning, a drone dropped a mortar shell on a home in Segovia, a town in the northeast of the Antioquia department, killing three occupants of the house and leaving one critically injured.

The police identified the victims as María Cecilia Silva Silva and her two adult children, Yalusan Cano Silva and Alsonso de Jesús Silva. Silva’s other son was also wounded in the attack.

Segovia is a key center for illegal gold mining and is being contested by multiple armed groups, including the Gaitanist Army of Colombia (EGC), also known as the Clan del Golfo, and dissident groups of the now-defunct FARC rebels.

Authorities are still working to establish if the attack was directed at the family or if it was an error by the drone operators, an increasingly common occurrence as drones become the latest technology used in Colombia’s internal armed conflict. 

According to the Secretary of Security of Antioquia, General Luis Eduardo Martínez Gúzman, the victims were “a family who have nothing to do with the conflict, who were simply attacked by a drone.” 

Martínez highlighted the danger of these devices, suggesting that the explosive device was detached from the drone, which means the mortar could “fall anywhere.”

The Director of the National Police in Colombia, General William Oswaldo Rincón Zambrano, released a statement of condemnation: “[we] categorically reject this criminal act which plunges a Colombian family into mourning and demonstrates the contempt of illegal armed groups for human life and dignity.” 

He also reported that state security forces have headed to the area where the attack took place in order to verify what happened and assist in locating and capturing those responsible. He also expressed solidarity with the victims and their families.

The Governor of Antioquia, Andrés Julián Rendón took to social media to blame the security policies of the national government for the attack: “Who in their right mind could consider that this government has achieved transformations for Colombia?”

Rendón criticized President Gustavo Petro for negotiating with the armed groups involved in the conflict in Segovia, part of the leftist leader’s “total peace” policy. 

“This is the so-called ‘total peace’: concessions for criminals and burials for civilians. Antioquia demands an unwavering military offensive, full backing for the security forces, and zero leniency towards the criminals,” said Rendón. 

Drone attacks, both against armed groups as well as against security forces and the civilian population, have become widespread in Colombia. Between April 2024 and February 2026, the government recorded 418 attacks using drones. 

Tackling the mounting security crisis is a key issue in upcoming elections, which the United Nations warns may be undermined by the armed conflict.


Featured image description: Drone with GoPro digital camera mounted

Featured image credit: Don McCullough, Wikimedia Commons

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An express kidnapping highlights the risks of taking a taxi in Colombia’s capital. What happened, and how to avoid it happening to you.

Bogotá breathed a collective sigh of relief on Tuesday morning when news broke of the safe arrival home of Diana Ospina, a rola missing for almost 40 hours after being kidnapped by a taxi she had hailed in the street after a night out in Chapinero.

Ospina was the latest victim of El Paseo Millonario, the ‘millionaire ride’, where passengers riding in yellow public taxis are physically attacked and forced to hand over cash and valuables.

The technique varies, but victims are usually targeted late at night in busy streets in party zones outside restaurants or discotheques, then driven to a quiet spot where two accomplices of the driver climb in the back seat and threaten the passenger with knives, guns or syringes.

See also: Bogotá’s Murder Mosaic

The following ordeal can last minutes or hours or even days. Victims are intimidated with beatings or stab wounds, and hooded or blindfolded. Some are killed, as in the case of a university professor found dead on the outskirts of the city in January this year.

Foreigners are also targeted: in 2013, a DEA officer Terry Watson was stabbed to death in a Bogotá taxi after two assailants jumped in the back seat. Authorities later said the army veteran resisted the attack. Seven taxi drivers were later captured and extradited to the U.S. to face charges for his murder.

According to police data, during 2025 in Bogotá there were registered 37 cases of kidnapping for ransom or extortion, though these crimes are highly under-reported. This is because the same gangs threaten the victims to keep quiet, and in the case of taxi gangs, know where their targets live.

Publicity blitz

In the case of Ospina, her kidnap started early Sunday morning when she hailed a yellow taxi that took her to within one block of her home in Engativá, where two men from a following taxi climbed in the back, threatened her and took her blindfolded for a three-hour driver around the city while using her phone and bank cards.

The ordeal did not end there. Ospina was then passed on to another kidnap group operating in the south of the city and held in a house there while more extortion demands were made. Late on Monday night, after being captive for nearly 40 hours, Ospina was dropped off in the hills above Bogotá where she eventually walked to a police station for assistance.

According to information on FM radio, from contacts close to the family, the kidnap gang released her after the “feeling pressure from the media blitz” with social media platforms widely publicising her disappearance. Other news reports stated they released her only after draining 50 million pesos (US$15,000) from her bank accounts.

This week the authorities were still hunting the perpetrators, expecting arrests imminently.

Your world in your phone

The Ospina case highlights how smartphones have upped the risks for kidnap victims in Colombia.

Whereas in the past a paseo millonario was usually a short-term event – passengers held for an hour while the gang used their bankcards at an ATM – criminals nowadays are eyeing much bigger profits from emptying bank accounts held on smartphones.

The insistence by banks and other financial platforms to use biometric approvals such as face recognition or fingerprint scanning has created the need for gangs to keep their targets captive for many days, in some cases drugging them into compliance or subduing them through threats of violence.

See also: Bogotá Police take down gang drugging victims in Teusaquillo and Chapinero

The rise of the digital nomads in Colombia often with juicy crypto accounts accessed through their phones has also created opportunities for tech savvy criminals. After such attacks, platforms are reluctant to reimburse funds arguing that they were transferred with the biometric approval of the victim.

One thing is clear: apart from increased financial losses, the longer victims are held captive the worse their outcome, both in terms of physical and psychological damage, the risk of sexual violence, or death from an overdose of the powerful drugs such as burundanga administered by the gangs.

The Canaries

Bogotá has more than 55,000 public taxis circulating on any given day sometimes referred to as ‘Los Canarios’ (the canaries) after their yellow cars and a popular telenovela depicting taxi drivers. It is worth noting that taxi drivers are themselves frequently the victims of robbery, extortions and murder.

Yellow taxi companies in Bogotá are registered and controlled by the Secretería de Movilidad with each driver given a Tarjeta de Control, the plasticized card hanging down the seat back that – in theory – displays the name, details and photo of the driver as well as the fare scale, and is revalidated every month.

In Bogotá, passengers can independently check the status of registered drivers by entering the numberplate into the menu at SIMUR at  www.simur.gov.co/conductores-de-taxi.

But in a random test by The Bogotá Post, out of 10 taxis entered by number plate, only six had a registered driver. Four were reported “without an active registration”.

That lack of control is further weakened by the fact that registered taxistas often allow other drivers to take the wheel, said transport companies this week.

“We work on good faith, but we can’t guarantee that drivers don’t hand over their cars to other persons to commit crimes,” Maria  Botero, manager of Radiotaxis told Noticias Caracol.

In the case of Ospina, the taxis that abducted her were quickly identified along with their owners, but not the actual attackers. One car was not currently registered on SIMUR.

No dar papaya

How to avoid becoming a victim? A good tip is to use a ride platforms like Didi, Cabify, Uber or Indrive. Some like Didi are also linked to the yellow public taxis, but safer because the ride is traced. At times hailing a street taxi is the only option because app cars are far off, and you weigh the risks of standing on the street, or (as in the case of Diana Ospina) the app ride is suddenly cancelled.

Attacks are usually at night, on weekends, on persons leaving bars or restaurants. But passengers can be targeted in daytime, particularly in financial districts or leaving a bank. If you are riding the yellow taxis, here are some ways to no dar papaya, as they say in Bogotá (‘don’t be a sucker’).

Before going out:

• Carry a clean phone with no banking apps and limited personal data. Many people in Bogotá are now leaving their financial transactions on a second phone or tablet stored safely at home.
• Carry a wad of cash. Perhaps counterintuitively, in the digital world cash makes you less of a target. And it is easy to hand over.
• If you do carry a bank card, take just one linked to a low-balance account.

Getting the taxi:

• Travel in a group. Criminals generally target solo passengers.
• Check the taxi numberplate in SIMUR, see above. This takes seconds and confirms if there is a registered driver. If not, walk away.
• Take a photo of the taxi numberplate, send to friends or family. Ensure the driver sees you doing this.
• Before entering a taxi, look carefully to ensure there is no-one hidden inside.
• Check the Tarjeta de Control photo with the actual driver. Do this before setting off.
• Check doors can be locked and unlocked from the passenger seat.

During the trip:

• Lock doors on both sides.
• Share your real-time location with a family member or friend.

Signs of danger:

• The driver changes the route without explanation.
• The taxi turns onto dark or deserted streets.
• The driver suddenly stops to pick up other persons.
• Motorcycles or other cars or taxis closely follow the vehicle.

During an attack:

• Prioritize your physical safety.
• Give up any valuables without resistance.

If you suspect someone you know has been abducted by a taxi gang, call the GAULA special police unit (Grupos de Acción Unificada por la Libertad Personal) that deals with extortion and kidnapping, on Line 165.

“Safe taxi” zones

Even with these precautions, street taxis are still a risk, and a growing one according to Bogotá security authorities who during 2025 arrested at least 20 persons from several different Paseo Millonario gangs such as La 57 and La Zona T.

A recent advance by the city has been the recognition of the crime as “kidnap with extortion”, with up to 40 years in jail for perpetrators.

Another nitiative announced by the Secretaría de Seguridad this week was taxi seguro zones where uniformed teams patrol outside nightspots and assist revellers to take only registered taxis.

But while mediatic, such initiatives are likely to have only limited impact. Taxi gangs are generally compact, with three people, and mobile so they can cruise new zones. And new gangs seem to pop up as quickly as old ones are taken down.

So while the city can celebrate the safe return of Diana Ospina, and hopefully soon see her attackers rounded up, there will be plenty more candidates for the Millionaire Ride.  

The post Paseo Millionario: don’t be taken for a ride appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Student leaders declare ‘indefinite strike’ at Bogotá’s sprawling Universidad Nacional as controversial rector reappointed.  

In another twist in the saga of who runs the ‘Nacho’, Colombia’s largest public university, controversial candidate Ismael Peña was formally inducted as rector last week ending a two-year legal wrangle.

Peña was sworn in during a small private ceremony on Thursday just days after a Bogotá tribunal ordered his reinstatement in the job. This followed the resignation last November of another rector whose possession was ruled illegitimate by Colombia’s state council.

Read more: Court Ruling Expected to Spark Trouble at the National University.

The initial controversy was sparked in 2024 in the highly politicized campus when a popular candidate, Leopoldo Múnera, lost out to Peña in the last voting round by the university council.

#BOGOTÁ | Este es el panorama a esta hora (6:53 p.m.) en la calle 26 a la altura de la Universidad Nacional.

Los servicios troncales que transitan realizan retornos en Corferias y Concejo de Bogotá.

Los vehículos particulares no pueden circular en sentido Oriente-Occidente.… pic.twitter.com/WWfyIrqwXi

— ÚltimaHoraCaracol (@UltimaHoraCR) February 19, 2026

The ensuing strikes and protests galvanized the university for four months setting back the academic agenda and creating an exhausting three-term year in 2025, from which students and professors are only just recovering.

Protests and vandalism spilled over onto major nearby transport routes around the Bogotá campus. In Bogotá, the Nacho sits in the corner of the busy Avenida NQS and Avenida El Dorado, two of the most vital throughfares for both public and private transport.

Return of Torres

Even as news of Peña’s legal victory and imminent reinstatement was announced last week, students and supporters quickly blocked the Avenida El Dorado forcing Transmilenio buses to suspend operations and thousands of commuters to make their way on foot.

Student assemblies at the university’s two main campuses, Bogotá and Medellin, called for “indefinite strikes” to protest Peña reinstatement.

To add to the confusion, the Bogotá campus was also invaded by a large group of campesinos from Cauca whose later protests detained workers in government buildings, part of a plan to draw attention to conflict-related problems in their department.

On Friday, when The Bogotá Post visited the university, most of the faculties were closed but the campus was filled with students busy painting fresh murals to celebrate the return of the remains to the campus of Camilo Torres, a revolutionary priest and founder of the university Sociology Department, who joined the ELN guerrillas and was killed in action against the army in 1966.

See also: Remains of Rebel Priest Set to Return to Bogotá.

Many students gave their views on the return of Peña but  declined to be fully identified.

Roberto, a sociology student selling food in the campus, said he supported the strike to “preserve the autonomy of the university”. Peña was seen as an unpopular candidate “linked to private interests that will privatize the curriculum and syphon off profits”, he said.

Corporate spinoffs

Similar sentiments were expressed across the campus: that Peña was being parachuted in with the backing of the Centro Democratic party to advance both a right-wing agenda and disburse lucrative contracts to a select group of private companies.

According to an investigation by magazine La Raya last year, Peña was the continuity candidate for “a parallel administration system” embedded in a company called Rotorr that dished out deals on behalf of the university, but bypassed internal auditing procedures leaving an opaque tangle of beneficiaries.

During his rectorship Múnera described these corporate spinoffs as engaging in “crimes against the university” and flagged them to the judicial authorities, but so far with no clear resolution.

Despite these controversies, Peña’s return was boosted by support from the Consejo Superior Universitario, the highest decision-making body of public universities in Colombia, that unanimously agreed to respect the tribunal ruling, clearing any final legal hurdles.

Strike Down

In another unexpected outcome, an online poll of students revealed that a majority were against the suspension of classes.

 The initial strike call came after a hastily convened student assembly on the Bogotá campus where some student representatives later complained that their voices were not heard.

“There was one classmate, he raised his hand and they wouldn’t let him speak. So, the next day we decided to conduct a survey to ask the students if they agreed with the strike,” student representative Kevin Arriguí told City TV.

The results, based on a total of 5,438 respondents, showed that 56 per cent (3,060 students) disagreed with the strike, while only 36 per cent (2,141 students) supported it. There were 237 undecideds.

Tellingly, the online strike survey had a higher participation among students than last year’s vote to install a Constituyente Universitaria – a people’s body – that is now in place.

Some students consulted on the campus by The Bogotá Post last week were mindful of the outcome of the 2024 strike which lasted several months and created hardships, particularly for poor students from rural areas who had spent money to travel to the capital to study, only to face severe interruptions to their curriculums and the risk of having to study another year to gain their degrees.

“We don’t want Peña. People are angry. But we don’t want to stop the term either,” said Carla, a student outside the newly constructed 70,000-million-peso arts faculty building.

Fragile mobility

Finding a compromise could be problematic. Activists on the campus were pressuring undergraduates to not attend classes and most lessons were abandoned. Some professors offered their classes on-line.

The student assembly planned this week at the Bogotá site could reverse the strike plans, though this seems unlikely. The general mood among students on the campus was that they would “block Peña, whatever it takes”.

Such talk is common at a university that is a petri dish for the national condition and at times – literally – a battleground for political divisions, particularly in a city nominated as the country’s “protest capital”.

This was revealed by data published in an El Espectador op-ed this week which showed Bogotá had 1,678 mass mobilization recorded during 2025, roughly 32 per week, and an increase of 17 per cent on the previous year.

While celebrating this increase as a “symptom of democracy”, it also pointed out that these protests “affected public order and the fragile mobility of millions of Bogotanos”.  

 That included two million people using the Transmilenio each day, with a majority of these on lines passing close to the Universidad Nacional. Easy targets for agitators based on the campus.

Which is why trouble at the Nacho generally means headaches for the whole city.

The post More trouble at Bogotá’s Universidad Nacional? appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

The Colombian national parks agency announced the temporary closure of the Tayrona National Park on Tuesday, February 17, citing threats against park staff by armed groups.

Tayrona, located on the country’s northern Caribbean coast, is one of the country’s most visited national parks, attracting as many as 750,000 visitors from around the world each year.

Its closure comes amid a war between two criminal organizations fighting to control territory and strategic drug trafficking routes in the region.

“The National Government announced the temporary closure of Tayrona National Natural Park as a preventive measure to protect the lives and safety of visitors, communities, and officials, and to ensure their security,” read a government statement on Tuesday. 

The dispute began with an operation on February 11 to dismantle “unauthorized constructions in the protected area” in the park. The director of the national parks agency explained that these included houses, bathrooms, and hiking trails built without state permission.

The demolition prompted threats online against park personnel, according to the government. The situation escalated on Monday, February 16, when locals blocked park employees from entering Tayrona. They also reportedly took over government functions, charging tourists for access and allowing people to enter without formal registration. 

“This created a situation that prevents a minimum level of security from being ensured within the protected area,” said authorities.

While the government did not specify who it believes to be behind the actions, the closure comes amid a mounting turf war in the area between two criminal organizations: the Conquering Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada (ACSN) and the Gaitanist Army of Colombia (EGC), or Clan del Golfo, designated a terrorist organization by the United States last December. 

“This latest escalation in Tayrona is yet another chapter in this very unfortunate territorial contest that’s been underway now for several years,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy director for Latin America at the International Crisis Group. 

For decades, the ACSN – under different names – has controlled the Sierra Nevada, Tayrona and the city of Santa Marta through a web of powerful family clans. But in recent years, the EGC has been pushing east along the coast from its stronghold in the Gulf of Urabá, trying to displace the ACSN.

The EGC’s long-term goal is to reach the border with Venezuela and surround the key coca-producing region of Catatumbo, says Dickinson. 

“[The Sierra Nevada] is sort of a route on the route to their goal. And… the effect on the civilian population from both sides has been pretty devastating,” said the analyst, who noted a rise in forced confinement, recruitment, and targeted killings.

While tourists tend to be insulated from criminal violence in the area, with armed groups preferring to profit from drugs and prostitution, Tayrona’s closure may signal a shift. 

But local tourism operators tell a different story; they say the closure has nothing to do with the security situation. Instead, members of the community say the problem is that the government, which collects revenue from ticket sales, is not re-investing it in the park. 

“The communities are tired, and the Indigenous people are tired because they don’t receive the money either; it’s taken to Bogotá,” said Luis Eduardo Muñoz, a local leader. 

He explained that members of the community took action to renovate vital tourism infrastructure in the park because the national government failed to invest in it. When the state demolished it, they protested.

“Why do they have to resort to extreme measures and try to close the park if it is necessary for people’s livelihoods?” said Muñoz, who called for dialogue between the government and local leaders.

Although the cause of the closure remains disputed, security analysts nevertheless say it underscores increasing insecurity in the Sierra Nevada region around Tayrona. 

It also marks another setback for President Gustavo Petro’s peace process, with the government actively engaged in negotiations with both the ACSN and the EGC.

Petro said the ACSN had signed a deal after Tayrona’s closure to guarantee civilian safety and suspend attacks on state security forces. 

But the prospect of a peace deal remains uncertain as the group faces a mounting threat from the EGC.

“I think the fundamental question remains the tactical situation on the ground because, of course, they can’t negotiate if they’re under immediate threat from another force,” said Dickinson.

The post Colombia’s popular Tayrona National Park closes over alleged armed group threats appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Bogotá, Colombia – On February 10, the Grenoble Prosecutor’s Office launched a worldwide call for victims or witnesses of Jacques Leveugle, a teacher arrested in 2024 in France and accused of sexually assaulting at least 89 minors around the world since 1967.

During a press conference, French prosecutor Étienne Manteaux said that the sexual predator was reported in 2023 by one of his nephews, who discovered a USB drive containing written memoirs, pictures, and other documents related to the abuse of teenagers. 

The French Embassy in Colombia called for witnesses to come forward to identify potential abuse victims in the country, as Leveugle worked as a teacher in Bogotá on two occasions between 1996 and 2023.

The suspect was living in Morocco when the investigation began, but had spent his life moving between Switzerland, Germany, Portugal, Algeria, Nigeria, the Philippines, New Caledonia, Colombia, and France. In all of these countries, he allegedly targeted minors while working in educational or social roles.

Authorities revealed that in his “autobiography,” the alleged abuser gave horrendous details about 89 teenagers, between 13 and 17 years old, being manipulated and abused from 1967 to 2022.

“We need Jacques Leveugle’s name to be known because the objective is to reach the victims and encourage them to come forward,” Manteaux confirmed.

He said that 40 of the 89 victims had been identified and that authorities were working to find the rest. 

“Sometimes names are not even mentioned; we are facing a wall in certain situations… This call for witnesses is to allow victims we haven’t been able to identify to come forward,” the prosecutor explained. “Perhaps not all victims are recorded in these documents.”

Manteaux also said that the man, who has been under arrest since 2024 and never officially graduated as an educator, also confessed in his writings to killing two women: his mother and one of his aunts.

The uphill battle to find victims in Colombia

Investigations revealed that Jacques Leveugle spent several years living in and visiting Colombia between 1996 and 2000, and again from 2000 to 2023. 

In an interview with Caracol Radio, the prosecutor confirmed that the sexual predator worked as a French teacher in a shelter for children and teenagers in the capital city, Bogotá.

“It’s hard to reach victims outside France; that’s why we have made a special invitation to Colombian victims. We need them and their experiences to understand what this man really did,” he said during the call, adding that they decided to take a “traditional” approach due to the difficulty of reaching witnesses.

Authorities are also trying to determine if Leveugle had collaborators and what his “modus operandi” was to ensure that none of the teenagers ever complained or reported the abuse to the police.

Latin America Reports contacted the Grenoble Prosecutor’s Office, and they confirmed that the investigation remains active and ongoing in Colombia. They also committed to briefing the media on any significant breakthroughs as they continue to work toward identifying more victims internationally.

The French Embassy in Bogotá has shared the channels established to find Colombian victims:

Anyone with information or seeking to report an incident can communicate via email at sr-grenoble-leveugle@gendarmerie.interieur.gouv.fr or by calling the international hotline at +33 800 005 321.

The post Frenchman accused of abusing 89 minors may have victims in Colombia appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Failures in Colombia’s health system were highlighted this week after a young boy died from “completely preventable” complications from blood condition after going off treatment for two months.

Seven-year-old Kevin Acosta was rushed to hospital in Pitalito, Huila, on February 8 after falling off his bike and hitting his head, a situation complicated by his hemophilia.

According to his mother Katherine Pico, the boy required regular injections of clotting factors to prevent the genetic condition that can cause fatal bleeding if untreated.

But due to failings by his health insurer, Nueva EPS, Kevin had missed his regular injections for two months, and on the day of his accident he was denied emergency doses even while bleeding from his head in the hospital in Pitalito.

When the health insurer finally agreed to evacuate Kevin by air ambulance 24 hours later to Bogotá, where clotting factors were available, the blood loss was severe. Kevin died four day later in the Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital de la Misericordia in Bogotá.

Since then, Kevin’s death has caused huge indignation in Colombia both among medical experts who claim the death was preventable and critics of the current government’s political intervention in the health system which has left many users worse off.

Get off your bike

Adding to the furor, President Gustavo Petro waded into the debate blaming the mother for allowing Kevin to ride a bicycle.

“A hemophiliac child shouldn’t ride a bike; it’s a matter of prevention. We need to know if the doctor or the health system isn’t providing education, because mothers don’t learn about it, especially given the low educational levels in Colombia,” he said.

His own health minister, Guillermo Jaramillo, added: “Children with hemophilia should be restricted from activities that can generate violent trauma,” he said.

These comments were challenged by patient’s rights groups, who pointed out that cyclists with hemophilia have competed in the Tour de France, and medical experts who emphasized that in recent decades in Colombia prevention has been based on weekly or monthly injections of “clotting factors” which allowed hemophiliacs to lead normal lives.

Many medical experts concurred that children with regular prophylaxis to prevent excess bleeding could, and should, integrate in physical activities.  

“The child died from the accident, but the reason he died was because he didn’t have the medication,” Dr Sergio Robledo, president of the Colombian League of Hemophiliacs, told Blu Radio.  “Prevention in hemophilia means having the drugs, not locking the child up at home.”

“For more than 20 years in Colombia we have not had any [hemophilia] deaths specifically due to a lack of medicine,” Robledo continued.

Chaotic plan

Kevin’s case was symptomatic of problems in Colombia’s health system which had worsened under the Petro government, Denis Silva told the Bogotá Post this week.

Silva, spokesperson for Paciente Colombia, a coalition of 202 patients’ rights groups, said Kevin’s death was “100 per cent avoidable”.

“If Kevin had been given the prophylaxis or given the treatment when he went to the clinic to coagulate his blood, the situation would have been different”.

Kevin’s mother had been asking Nueva EPS for the life-saving medicines since December, he said, but they were never delivered because the EPS had “failed to pay the clinic” that administered the drug in Pitalito.

Blame for these errors should bounce back to the Petro government, said Silva. State entities had forcibly intervened in Nueva EPS in 2024, claiming fraud in the huge health insurer, and were thereafter legally responsible for managing the entity that covered 11 million Colombians.

Interventions in EPS insurers was not unusual in Colombia, he said. Previous governments had done the same to avoid a crisis for patients.

But were timely actions to “administrate, improve and, where necessary, rescue” the health insurers, though in some cases they were shuttered and patients moved to other companies. Petro’s current takeovers were more chaotic and linked to political overhaul of the health system, he said.

Health system in crisis

This agenda was heavily criticized in an opinion article ‘How Politics Destroyed Colombia’s Model Healthcare System’, by Colombian-based journalist Luke Taylor and published in the prestigious British Medical Journal in January.

Referring to President Petro’s “bungled reforms”, the story claimed that maternity wards and neonatal units were shutting their doors, emergency departments becoming overwhelmed, and training programs for specialist doctors being shut down.

It also quoted the Colombian president as stating that health companies were being “run by crooks”, even as the his government’s interventions triggered a slew of complaints by patients suddenly finding their health care a lot worse.

For patients with chronic ailments reliant on monthly checkups and regular medical supply, the decline was becoming an existential threat, said Colombia’s ombudsman, Iris Marín, this week.

Kevin Acosta was “yet another victim of the failures in the availability and access to medicines that thousands of Colombians face today, in order to access timely treatments that are crucial for their health”.

According to documents released by Nueva EPS, Pico had tried to transfer her son’s care from Huila to Santander department, then switched back to Huila, suggesting a paperwork logjam had delayed the treatment. In another statement, it denied suspending the prophylaxis.

Need for treatment

This was “a big lie” said Pico, talking to Semana, since even before the administrative switch the local clinic treating Kevin had told her in early January that Nueva EPS had ended its contract. Without payments from the EPS, the clinic was forced to suspend treatment.

“By January we had no medication, no appointments, nothing,” said Pico.

Her position was supported by the fact that, across the country, other chronic or rare disease sufferers – including hemophiliac suffers in Pico’s same family – were reporting the same shortages, in many cases linked to contractual or payment problems with health suppliers. 

ACHOP, the Colombian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, warned in a public communication that children and adolescents “were not receiving in a timely and continuous manner the essential medicines to preserve their lives in conditions of dignity”.

These shortages fell mostly on patients with the state-intervened Nueva EPS, confirmed hemophilia specialist Dr Jorge Peña, who said he regularly treated dozens of children with the condition.

Talking to Caracol Radio, Dr Peña said that children with other insurers were receiving their prophylaxis on time and were “happy, free from bleeding, and going to school as usual”.

“In comparison Nueva EPS patients are not getting the medicines, and I see them every day with bleeding. They can’t go to school.”

Leaked records

Meanwhile attempts by the government and President Petro to push back on Pico even while grieving her son’s death caused condemnation across the political spectrum, particularly since the state had taken over Nueva EPS.

“The responsibility is clear: when the state intervenes and controls, it is held accountable,” said Senator Jorge Robledo on X.

“The healthcare system already had problems, but under this government it’s worse. And meanwhile, more and more Colombians are suffering from illnesses that medicine knows how to treat.”

More criticism piled on President Petro after he leaked details from the Kevin Acosta’s medical records during a speech in La Guajira. Patient spokesperson Denis Silva called on the government to respect patient confidentiality

“These are confidential in Colombia,” said Silva. “By law the EPS insurer should guard the medical records, and no-one should access them without permission from the family”.

The leaks came even as the state agency overseeing the system, the Superintendency of Health (also known as Supersalud), announced an investigation into the Kevin’s care, including looking at “administrative barriers and the delivery of medication by Nueva EPS and the service provider”. This audit should clarify differences in accounts from the family and Nueva EPS.

But even with results pending, President Petro again doubled down in a speech claiming the family was primarily responsible for Kevin’s health outcomes.

“It’s the family that first of all cares for its children,” he said, “Not everything is the responsibility of the state, because the state can’t respond to everything, otherwise we lose our liberty”.  

Colombians living with hemophilia might want those liberties to include the right to life-saving drugs – and to ride a bike.

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