It looks like our first major Apple product announcements of 2026 are right around the corner, with Apple announcing a "special Apple Experience" for members of the media scheduled for March 4 where we're expecting to see them get hands-on time with several newly announced products.


In other Apple news this week, the first betas of iOS 26.4 and related updates include some new features and enhancements, while we heard a bit more about the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max coming later this year, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more!

Top Stories

Apple Announces Special Event in New York, London, and Shanghai on March 4

Apple this week invited members of the media to a "special Apple Experience" taking place simultaneously in New York, London, and Shanghai on Wednesday, March 4.


Rather than a traditional Apple event, it sounds like these "experiences" will be opportunities for the media to get hands-on time with a variety of products being announced at the start of or slightly before the event time.

It actually sounds like we may be getting several days of press release announcements in the first part of the week, culminating in the media experiences on Wednesday. While we don't know exactly what products will be announced that week, there are a host of new products expected in the near future including the iPhone 17e, M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models, new iPads, and more.

Everything New in iOS 26.4 Beta 1

Following last week's release of iOS 26.3, Apple this week seeded the first betas of iOS 26.4 and related updates.


While it doesn't include the more personalized Siri we had been hoping for, there are a bunch of changes and new features in the update.

One of the more interesting changes being prepped for in the release is support for CarPlay video over AirPlay, which will allow users to stream Apple TV and other video content to their car's infotainment screen while their vehicle is parked.

Five iPhone 18 Pro Features Revealed in New Report

While the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max should have very similar designs to their predecessors, they are likely to be getting an array of new features and upgrades to attract customers.


Research analyst Jeff Pu recently outlined five upgrades he's expecting to see in the new models, and we've recapped a full list of ten reasons why you might want to wait for the new models if you're considering buying now.

Apple Reveals How Many iPhones Are Running iOS 26

With the transition to the controversial new Liquid Glass design in iOS 26, some users appear to have been holding off on upgrading, but new data released by Apple last week suggests the impact is relatively small.


Apple adoption data shows roughly the same share of devices are running iOS 26 at this point as were running iOS 18 a year ago, although the company did wait three weeks longer to release data this year. So while it appears adoption is lagging a bit this year, it's not a massive difference.

Toyota Rolling Out Apple Wallet Car Keys on iPhone

Toyota, the world's largest car manufacturer, is finally rolling out support for Apple's digital car key feature, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start compatible vehicles from the Wallet app on their iPhone or Apple Watch.


Signs of the impending support were discovered back in December, and we've seen our first report of vehicles in the wild supporting it with the new 2026 RAV4.

Apple Launching New 'Sales Coach' App

Apple plans to launch a rebranded "Sales Coach" app on the iPhone and iPad later this month, according to a source familiar with the matter.


"Sales Coach" will arrive as an update to Apple's existing "SEED" app, and it will continue to provide sales tips and training resources to Apple Store and Apple Authorized Reseller employees around the world. For example, there are articles and videos highlighting everything from reasons to upgrade to a newer iPhone to popular iPad features.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!
This article, "Top Stories: Apple Event on March 4, iOS 26.4 Beta, and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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2026 has started off unusually wet, with downpours in Bogotá and floods elsewhere in Colombia. What’s going on and how can you help?

While this is meant to be the dry season for most of Colombia, it’s instead been raining heavily. Vast swathes of the Caribbean region have flooded, and in Bogotá, it’s led to collapses in the traffic systems. That’s led to an emergency declaration by the president and frantic relief efforts (links at article end).

Colombian president Gustavo Petro has declared a state of emergency yet again to address the situation in the northern department of Córdoba and elsewhere. While the emergency measures were declared for Córdoba, this was later extended to 22 departments, underlining the severity of the situation.

Within the capital, flash floods have swamped roads and forced traffic to grind to a halt as well as collapsing roofs and flooding buildings. Luckily, Bogotá has so far escaped the levels of damage seen elsewhere in the nation.

Barrios such as Nicolás de Federman have been hit by hailstorms heavy enough to resemble a blizzard, leaving them carpeted in white as though snowed in while the autopista norte has been forced to close as it resembles a swamp.

One silver lining to the rainclouds is that the reservoirs will be nice and full, alleviating fears that Bogotá will be forced to return to water rationing, as happened in 2024. That will be little comfort to many who have lost everything in the floods.

Why is it raining so much?

Colombia’s weather monitors, IDEAM, have explained that there are four main factors: the Madden and Julian wave; high Amazonian humidity; a lack of winds to move that humidity and la Niña-esque conditions.

All put together, these four factors combine to make a perfect storm and unseasonably high January rainfall levels. That’s continued into February and with March and April around the corner there is little relief in sight.

That’s led to half the country being put on alert for potential floods and high precipitation, which leads to all sorts of other trouble such as landslides. Colombia’s disaster relief agency UNGRD is underprepared currently, having endured corruption scandals recently.  

This is meant to be the dry season, too. Bogotá in particular is meant to receive heavy rain October-December and April, not January and February. In fact, these months are normally characterised by blazing sunshine, clear skies and hot temperatures.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that we’re supposed to be heading into an El Niño cycle, meaning dry weather and lower rainfall than expected. Instead, we’ve had the precise opposite so far. While Colombia is the world’s rainiest country, it’s not meant to fall in January and February, at least not in the north.

Floods in the Caribbean

The rains have been annoying and disruptive in Bogotá, but other parts of the country have faced genuine devastation. First among those is the department of Córdoba, which has suffered widespread floods. However, over half the country has been affected.

The capital of Córdoba, Montería, is the worst hit major city in the country, with thousands of people evacuated in the city and surrounds. Over a quarter of a million people have been directly affected by the rains nationally.

Sadly, politics have come into play here too, with Petro clashing with regional governor Erasmo Zuleta over the management of the department. The pair have had a lot of differences over the years. He also said he was initially unable to land in Córdoba due to the risk of an attack.

More reasonable are Petro’s claims that the situation has been exacerbated by water management systems such as reservoirs. These have diverted normal water flows and critically diminished the region’s ability to handle pressure from unusual weather patterns. Zuleta’s response is that the national government oversees the Urrá hydro plant.

The worst affected regions are on the Caribbean coast, with Uraba Antioqueño, La Guajira and Sucre joining Córdoba, but the Amazon and Pacific regions have also seen unusually high rainfall for the start of the year.

There has been flooding in Medellín, as well as the risk of landslides in hillside comunas, while coastal cities such as Cartagena have had heavy downpours and storms, affecting much-needed tourism income in high season as beaches close.

Even when the rains stop, the long term effects will take years to overcome. Already, bad actors are starting to take advantage of the situation, with desperate houseowners paying through the nose for boaters to rescue their belongings before thieves arrive.

Fields that are now underwater will take an age to fully drain and even longer to recover from the damage currently being wrought upon them. Thousands upon thousands of hectares of farmland will be unusable for the near future.

With what looks like a fraught year ahead for Colombia, this is an unwanted extra pressure to deal with and exposes the fragility of infrastructure in the face of increased climate change pressure. Whoever wins the next election, investment will be needed to avoid similar problems going forward. 

The Cruz Roja Colombiana are taking donations of clothes and building materials at their Salitre centre (Av.68 #68b-31), and you can donate money directly on this link. The local government in Bogotá is also organising donation drives on this link.

The post Rain, rain, go away appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Festival Estéreo Picnic 2026 is nearly here, and is a great way to find out more about Latin music alongside serious international superstars

Festival Estéreo Picnic 2026 is only a few weeks away now, with artists including Tyler, the Creator and Sabrina Carpenter topping a typically star-studded bill on the 20th-22nd of March. Having cemented its place in the centre of Bogotá, the event continues to be the biggest draw in town.

This year, it’s a three-day event. That seems like a good move, concentrating quality into a long weekend rather than stretching things over four days. Adult tickets start at COP$523,000 for a single day and are available online via Ticketmaster here. 

Full fest regular passes are at COP$1,413,000 and Sat-Sun at COP$939,000. VIP rates are significantly higher, with a full 3 day pass clocking in at COP$2,899,000. Prices will increase in the coming weeks.

Cultural tourism is now a heavyweight part of the sector and is rapidly diversifying away from purely traditional events like Barranquilla Carnival. That means a lot more travellers timing trips to coincide with festivals like Estéreo Picnic.

It’s easy to see why. Not only do you get a stellar international lineup, but also a peek at the flow of a Latin crowd. With prices competitive compared to North America and Europe, it’s a good way to see international stars along with your holiday.

What is Festival Estéreo Picnic in Bogotá like?

In a word: fantastic. Since the move back to the heart of the city, everything now flows pretty much seamlessly. Considering the size of the event, this is quite an achievement. It’s a cashless wristband affair, meaning you don’t have to worry about carrying too much cash.

There’s two big stages as well as a frequently interesting third stage set behind the second stage, often home to some of the more quirky and/or local acts. Hometown hip-hoppers La Etnnia’s set in 2024 was emblematic of that.

Of course, you’ll find getting to the front tricky with thousands of people in front of you, but there’s no VIP barriers to contend with and good views of most stages across the site. Bands are timed to avoid clashes, so you should be able to catch everyone on your list, even if from far away and there’s little dead time to contend with.

Food and drink is reasonably priced: you won’t be able to find a corrientazo bargain, but neither is it airport pricing. There’s a wide selection of local chains and some internationals with all tastes catered for, usually including fully vegan stands. The park’s normal drinking water fountains keep running through the festival too, with long lines.

If you’re getting tired after hours in a field, there are lots of seated spaces or grass to lie on, as well as tents in which to keep warm or shelter from rain. If you find yourself between bands, there’s a wide selection of shops and stalls to peruse. If things are really going south, there are dedicated chill-out spots and medical support.

Who’s headlining Festival Estéreo Picnic 2026 in Bogotá?

Festival Estéreo Picnic 2026 will be starting off front foot forward, with Tyler, The Creator headlining Friday night. Kiwi popster Lorde is the undercard here, with Turnstile bound to attract a big audience, given how much of a rock city Bogotá is.

On Saturday night, traditionally the biggest party of the weekend, the festival is going back to a tried and trusted favourite: The Killers. They’ve played Colombia a half dozen times over the past decade, so this isn’t breaking new ground, but will be popular.

There’s plenty of international quality down the bill on the middle day too, with Swedish House Mafia likely to go down an absolute storm, The Whitest Boy Alive popular and Tom Morello guaranteed to make a political statement.

For the final night, there’s a mix of contemporary talent and big name legends. Sabrina Carpenter ticks the first box, while Skrillex, Deftones and Interpol tick the latter. Scottish Britpop survivors Travis are timing things perfectly for a rendition of Why Does It Always Rain On Me.

Who else should I check out at Festival Estéreo Picnic 2026?

So, there’s plenty of well-known names you’ll recognise from international charts, but what about the local and Latin talent? After all, you can catch many of the big names around the world, but this might be your only chance to check out local talent.

These bands are usually scheduled earlier in the day, giving you the perfect excuse to rock up early and miss the queues for peaktime entrance around 6pm. Sadly, the local scene isn’t always the best attended, meaning that it’ll be easy to get up nice and close for most of these bands.

Nicolás y los Fumadores are as classic rolo rockcito as they come and command a strong following in the capital. 80s-infused Pirineos en Llamas are popping over from Medellín. Up-and-coming popster Manú is touring last year’s album, while Zarigüeya mix pop with carranga rhythms.

Viral Mexican sensation Macario Martínez is a young version of the classic Latin pop-rock crooners of yesteryear.  From Quito is Machaka, highlighting Ecuadorian and wider Latin culture via tropipop. Spain is represented by Guitarricadelafuente and Judeline.

Cult kitsch octogenarian Peruvian legend La Tigresa Del Oriente plays the cabaret tent. It’s hard to describe precisely what she’s like, as she ploughs her own furrow, but this will be packed and spectacular. FEP fixture La Ramona will also play there. DJs such as Briela Veneno, Babath and Silvia Ponce are also onsite for electronica fans.

The post Why You Should Check Out Festival Estéreo Picnic 2026 in Bogotá appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Colombia is off to the polls in a little under a month, but what’s at stake and what could happen? And why can’t you have a drink while watching results roll in?

Every Colombian over the age of majority (18) and with a correctly registered cédula ciudandanía can vote. In return, each voter gets a half day off work. Non-citizens are not eligible to vote in national elections, but holders of resident visas will be able to vote in next year’s local elections.

The polls are open from 8am until 4pm and counting is usually very fast with the first results coming in just an hour or so later. Due to the PR system (see below), final results come through in the week. 

Land and fluvial borders will be closed for Colombian nationals on the day of the election, although foreigners can cross. From the Saturday afternoon before voting until the Monday morning, ley seca will apply, meaning no alcohol sales in bars, restaurants or shops. That applies for everyone, so no representation or boozing.

Oversight is carried out by the CNE (Consejo Nacional Electoral). In order to do this over the vast territory and number of stations, over 800,000 citizens are selected to be vote-counters. This is similar to jury duty in other countries and is compensated with a day off as well as a compulsory day of training a couple of weeks beforehand.

As the electorate is growing, there are now some 13,000 voting sites across the country, most with multiple voting tables. Colombians have to vote where their cédula is registered, so don’t be surprised to see some people trekking to other cities if they forgot to update their registration.

Some parties run a closed list system, meaning you simply vote for them, whereas others have open lists, meaning you vote for the party and can also vote for your preferred candidate within the party. For closed lists, the party will decide who enters congress, with an open list it will be done in order of preference.

A smidgen under 50% turnout is common for house elections, with higher figures expected for the presidential elections later this year. The Colombian parliament is a bicameral system with the Senate acting as the upper and more powerful house and the Cámara the lower house.

Most parties do not really have well-defined manifestos as such, although better-funded candidates will give a range of positions on matters. In general, there will simply be slogans and general aims that give voters an idea of where their candidates stand.

Who’s up for election?

With a PR system in place there are a plethora of parties to peruse. The country was dominated for decades by the Conservadores and Liberales and both remain strong across the country. In recent years they’ve been joined by the Centro Democrático as the third force. Expect all three to do well.

Mid-level parties include the likes of the right-wing Cambio Radical, particularly strong on the Caribbean, centrist (and not ecologically centred) Alianza Verde and ex-president Santos’ centrist partido de la U. The last election saw the leftist Colombia Humana rocket up to join these blocs.

Then there are the smaller parties, often operating essentially as almost one-man-bands. These usually have an enormous amount of support in a particular area or for a certain candidate but fail to translate this to a wider audience. It’s common to see them banding together, as with the governing coalition Pacto Histórico.

Finally, there are guaranteed seats in both the Senate and Cámara for certain groups and people. This year sees the Comunes party no longer receiving an automatic five seats in both houses that they had in the last two votes as part of the peace process. 

If you are a fan of PR, this system allows a diverse number of voices to be heard and limits the power of government, especially when there is opposition to their plans. For those more cynically-minded, it is a way to make sure that little gets done and few significant bills are passed.

There’s also the curious option of voto en blanco. Different from a spoiled vote, which is simply disregarded, this is an active protest. If it ranks highest in any race, then a rerun of the election must take place within a month with entirely new candidates and/or party lists. 

Colombian Senate Elections 2026

The Senate now has 103 seats (known as curules) and is the upper house in the bicameral system. Of those, a straight 100 are chosen by the electorate as a whole, while Indigenous communities select a further two and the runner-up in the presidential election will receive the final seat.

The Senate currently boasts a whopping 17 parties, but only six of those have double figure representation with the Conservadores’ 15 being the biggest single group. 26 parties are running 1,000 candidates between them this time. Voting is done on a national basis and tallied up across the territory, meaning this takes a little while to work out.

While there is a diverse group of parties, they hang together in loose blocs roughly delineated as government, opposition and neutral. With the government only controlling 34 curules and the opposition 24, the neutrals are incredibly important for horse-trading.

This will be a huge litmus test for the ruling leftist bloc. They will lose their guaranteed  Comunes seats, so any further losses will be highly problematic. On the other hand, gaining curules would be a huge shot in the arm in terms of public support, hence why they are campaigning in places like Huila, outside of their traditional strongholds.

The most likely outcome is that there will be little change in the makeup of the Senate, with neither the government nor opposition likely to take outright control or make large gains. Whichever of those two groups increases their representation will quickly turn it into a sign that they are on the right track and use that as support for their presidential campaign.

Cámara de Representantes election Colombia 2026

The lower chamber, too, is also up for election. It is significantly larger, with 188 seats and 23 parties. The government is also in a minority here and relies on support from independents to get things done. There are over 2,000 candidates representing nearly 500 parties, or listas of similar candidates.

The key difference in voting here is that it is largely territorial, with 161 seats divided between the departments and Bogotá, DC. The latter returns the most seats, with 18, closely followed by Antioquia with one fewer. Colombians living abroad and voting in embassies get one between them

However, these are not equal, as departments receive at least two seats, meaning Vaupés gets one representative for every 20,000 or so people, while the national average is more like 300,000. Changes in population have led to odd situations like Caldas returning more representantes (5) than Cauca (four) despite only having ⅔ of its population.

Then there are the special seats. Again, the Comunes party will lose their five extra seats in this term and it is also the last election to feature the 16 seats reserved for conflict victims. Colombians of Afro descent get two seats, while Indigenous Colombians and raizales from San Andres and Providencia have one apiece and the VP runner-up rounds it out.

Consultas for the presidential election

Just in case you thought there was enough on the plate, there are further considerations at stake. To avoid spreading the vote, various presidential candidates with similar positions group together for a preliminary vote. The losers in each consulta will drop out on March 9th. This year there are three on the voting card.

The biggest of these with 9 names is the Gran Consulta Por Colombia, which stretches the credibility of political similarity. It’s nominally centrist but features prominent rightists Vicky Dávila and Paloma Valencia alongside traditional centre voices such as Enrique Peñalosa and Juan David Oviedo. The latter is also the Centro Democrático candidate. 

The leftist consulta is under intense scrutiny as candidate Iván Cepeda, currently leading the polls, was blocked from taking part. That led to further withdrawals and angry denunciations from Cépeda and sitting president Gustavo Petro. Roy Barreras is now the favourite to win this five person race.

Then there’s a centrist competition between former Bogotá mayor Claudia López and little-known candidate Leonardo Huerta. López is the clear favourite here after perennial runner Sergio Fajardo chose to go directly to the first round of presidential voting.

At the moment, the presidential campaign is very unclear. Iván Cepeda leads polling and is extremely unlikely not to make the second round. Who joins him is hard to see at this point, so the consultas will trim that field significantly.

While the Senate and Cámara will be decided by mid-March, this is only the first lap of the field for the presidential candidates. Some will fall out, others will consolidate their position and things will start changing throughout the spring until the May 31st first round.

The post Colombian Elections 2026: How do they work? appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

The iOS 26.3 release looks to be right around the corner with a highly anticipated iOS 26.4 update following right behind, so Apple software rumors were big in the news this week.


Hardware wasn't left out, however, as we're still awaiting a few early-year launches like the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro, while we're also looking further down the road at major new products coming later in the year like the first foldable iPhone, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more!

Top Stories

iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available to beta testers ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April.


Be sure to check out our recap of known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far so you're ready for the updates!

First Foldable iPhone Design Details Revealed

Apple's first foldable iPhone will feature relocated volume buttons, an all-black camera plateau, a smaller Dynamic Island, and more, according to design leaks from a known Weibo leaker.


A separate leaker has indicated the foldable iPhone could feature the biggest-ever iPhone battery and eclipse rival devices, checking in at over 5,500 mAh in size. That would make it the largest capacity of any current or previous ‌iPhone‌, as the iPhone 17 Pro Max has the biggest battery to date at 5,088 mAh.

Apple's CarPlay Ultra to Expand to These Vehicle Brands Later This Year

Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.


In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis, and in his Power On newsletter this week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said he was told that CarPlay Ultra will come to at least one major new Hyundai or Kia vehicle model "in the second half of this year."

It is unclear if he is referring to Hyundai's upcoming IONIQ 3, as previously reported, or if it will be a different model.

Apple Changes How You Order a Mac

Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro.


There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an iPad.

New MacBook Pros Reportedly Launching Alongside macOS 26.3

Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


"Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter this week. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from February through March," he explained.

This comes as third-party retailers are seeing stock of the existing models dwindle.

Apple Gives Final Warning to Home App Users

In 2022, Apple introduced a new Apple Home architecture that is "more reliable and efficient," and the deadline to upgrade and avoid issues is fast approaching.


In an email this week, Apple gave customers a final reminder to upgrade their Home app by February 10, 2026. Apple says users who do not upgrade may experience issues with accessories and automations, or lose access to their smart home in the app entirely. In addition, users who do not upgrade will miss out on newer features like robot vacuum cleaner support, and they will not receive important security fixes and performance improvements.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!
This article, "Top Stories: iOS 26.3 and 26.4 Features, Foldable iPhone Details, and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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With Superbowl weekend about to kick off, we take a look at the best places to watch the big game as well as where to get involved with local American Football clubs.

Football that you play with your feet and a ball reigns supreme in Colombia, but there’s also plenty of support for the types of football that you play with your hands and an egg. We’ve covered Aussie Rules football and Rugby Union before, but with the Superb Owl between Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots coming up on Sunday, it’s time to look at the USA’s favourite sport in Colombia’s capital.

There’s a Colombian element this time around too, with star cornerback Christian Gonzalez lining up in the Patriots’ backfield. Born in Texas to a Caleño family, he went 15th in the 2023 draft and anchors pass coverage for New England.

He retains a great love for Colombia, saying that he’ll have mixed feelings if his country of birth and country of descent meet in this year’s World Cup in North America.

The game kicks off at 18:30 Colombian time, pretty much perfect for Sunday evening viewing. The pregame show by Green Day will be popular in Colombia, but it’s halftime that will draw all eyes to the screen.

Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny is scheduled to play and he hasn’t held back in commenting on ICE actions across mainland USA. He said “ICE out” while accepting an award at the Grammys, adding “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.” That has made him the highest profile US Latino speaking out on the issue.

Watching is easy, but playing is certainly possible, with a wealth of clubs throughout la nevera and elsewhere in Colombia. We spoke to local organiser Javier Zuleta about how local American Football works and how to get involved, whether that’s full kit or flag.

Where to watch

This is by no means an exhaustive list – the match will be widely shown around Bogotá. However, it’s a Sunday night, and that means there will be a limited number of places open anyway, so it pays to check ahead. If you’re looking for a proper atmosphere, these places will sort you out on Sunday evening.

All these venues are running DAZN and Gamepass, so you won’t have to deal with dodgy streams or any sort of hiccups. All should feature a mixed crowd of Americans watching their home sport and Colombian fans of the NFL, making for a different atmosphere than you might previously have experienced.

International Centre

Meeting House

Closest to the centre, by the centro comercial San Martín at Calle 32 #6b-43 (3rd floor), the Meeting House offers a huge screen, plenty of tables and a long bar. They expect to busy, so reserve here to assure yourself of a place at the party.

They have a large terrace/patio for smoking, as well as activities such as Beer Pong if you’re not glued to the halftime show or Bad Bunny’s been cancelled. Expect a lively party atmosphere.

There’s a range of offers on cocktails and the full kitchen menu, with picadas probably as a special offer as well for the extra-hungry. Both bottled and draft beer is available as well as a range of spirits. They have pitchers up to a whopping 5 litres to make sure you’ve no chance of going thirsty.

Teusaquillo

Shots Lab

Open from 3pm, the Shots Lab at Calle 45 #20-20 has a plethora of screens across three areas for your viewing pleasure. The early start means you can make sure you get a good seat and the number of screens means you’re assured of a good view wherever you are.

The owner is a Saints fan, so it’s pretty neutral. There’s two indoor spaces as well as an open-air patio which is cooler if it’s crowded and a dartboard if the game turns into a blowout. Rock music provides a solid backdrop.

They are running all their usual menu, as well as offers on cubetazos up until kick off o clock. Águila, Póker and Andina are at six for COP$25,000 while Club Colombia is at COP$30,000. They have an extensive menu and a good range of both beers and spirits.

Zona T

Irish Pubs

The Usaquén, Quinta Camacho and Zona T are your best bets here. They will have the games on at all locations with a dependable selection of beers and food. Best one for atmosphere is probably the Zona T where there are offers on nachos and wings with beer on a 100 inch screen.

Gigante

If you’re looking for craft beer while watching the match, this is your best bet. Owner Will Catlett serves up his own Gigante brews made locally. A California native, he’ll be backing fellow NFC West team the Seahawks.

Unsurprisingly, the screen is, well, gigante and there’s plenty of space inside to make sure you can see it. It’s conveniently located right in the heart of the Zona T at Carrera 14A #83-44.

Litre-and-a-half beer pitchers at COP$50,000 are a great deal, with 2×1 cocktails on a slew of options if you don’t want to chug the beers. Also at COP$50,000 are beer plus food (hamburger or choripan) combos to help make sure your stomach’s lined.

Wherever you end up, watching the Superbowl in Bogotá is great if you know what you’re doing. And why not consider popping along to check out some of the local teams’ training sessions – they’re friendly, welcoming and always looking for new members.

The post Superbowl in Bogotá: Where and When to Watch? appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Cars are off the road for día sin carro 2026 in Bogotá. We explain why the city does this and how to get about today.

Expect to see few cars and motos on the roads of la nevera today. Once or twice a year, Bogotá bans personal car and motorbike use for the vast majority of the city for most of the day – known as Día sin Carro y Moto. The first is scheduled for the first Thursday in February (the fifth) and there’s sometimes a second in autumn, around September.

It’s a lot more extreme than the normal Sunday and holiday ciclovía schemes, as almost all regular cars and motorbikes are banned from all roads. Obvious exceptions exist for taxis, buses, emergency vehicles, and certain key workers such as doctors.

However, expect to see streets much emptier than normal and predominately yellow with taxis and buses. Remember that there are also the white servicio especial taxis and a surprising number of exempted people travelling around, especially in central and downtown Bogotá.

The policy has been quite controversial, to say the least. Every year it leads to much wailing and gnashing of teeth from a whole host of sectors. Of course, people who usually use their cars to commute are furious, but it’s worth remembering that they are by no means the majority of the city’s commuters. 

Post-pandemic, that’s changed a lot. With the rise of remote working and home offices, it’s become much more viable for big swathes of the city to just tell people not to come in. Many schools are shut, universities are giving virtual classes and employees citywide are logging in.

A lot of people won’t even attempt to travel today, despite the fact that most Bogotanos don’t even use cars as primary transport. This reflects the growing acceptance of remote and hybrid working in Colombia, and points to a possible future with fewer commuters.

After all, Bogotá is a much nicer city if you don’t have to move around too much in it. Cities should be designed for people, not cars and motorbikes. Much of the city is still very much accessible by foot and bike, even if there are significant holes in the bus network.

So what’s the point of all of this? Well, the reason is above – Bogotá is so much more liveable without traffic jams, fumes, noise, delays and chaos. Bogotá might not be as bad as some Asian cities in terms of air pollution, but it’s certainly not a shining ecological star.

Día sin carro reduces this significantly, according to the city’s environmental department. Commute times are laughably inefficient, which leads to a lot of wasted time, lowering productivity and quality of life. And just have a listen to the quieter streets with fewer badly-tuned motorbikes.

So, what can you do on Día sin Carro 2026 in Bogotá?

If you’re out and about during Día sin Carro 2026 in Bogotá, you have several transport options.

Buses

Most people will be hopping on some type of bus, as indeed most commuters do every day. Whether it’s TransMilenio rapid bus transit, SITP buses in their rainbow of assorted colours or regular colectivos, they’re the transport lifeblood of la nevera. 

There might be a bit more crowding than usual, but off-peak it’s unlikely to be too bad. Also, there are more buses in circulation today, and they don’t have anywhere near as much traffic to navigate. You might think that in the case of the TransMi that’s not an issue, but remember that cars often get stuck crossing TransMi lanes.

Bikes 

Remember, you can always get on your bike in Bogotá. We’ve criticised the self-aggrandising capital mundial de bici posturing from the alcaldía before, but it’s still an excellent city (and country) to ride in. The bike lanes will be busier than normal, but there are plenty of them and they’re far less stressful than normal traffic.

No bike? No problem! Bogotá has a bikeshare scheme with a Brazilian company called Tembici. The system has had a few wobbles, but comes into its own on days like this. You will need to download the app to be able to use the scheme and it is relatively pricey for short term work.

Taxis

You may have trouble moving about with some rideshare apps, but the regular yellow taxis are most definitely buzzing about the city today. Apps such as easytaxi, tappsi, taxis libres et al should work as normal, just with high demand. Expect to wait a little while longer for a connection.

Hopefully, they’ll be on their best behaviour today and not taking advantage of the situation. Despite copping a lot of flak, rolo taxis aren’t nearly as bad as they’re often made out to be and have a big incentive to play nicely right now.

Walk! 

It’s a nice warm Bogotá day with fewer fumes in the air, which have been few and far between in recent weeks. Perfect conditions for a stroll in the sunshine. Most of the city is very flat and walkable, and you’re never far from a decent café to keep yourself safe from sunburn and rehydrate. Our top tip for a day like today is a limonada de coco!

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A picture frame with a kind message and smiles all round: was the Colombia-USA meeting at the White House an unalloyed success?

Colombian president Gustavo Petro’s trip to Washington to meet his counterpart Donald Trump seems to have gone very well. The build-up had been pretty good, with Trump praising Petro and both sides avoiding inflammatory rhetoric.

So well did it go, in fact, that Petro ended up with a signed photobook memory of the encounter on first name terms. Trump’s handwritten note said it was a great honour to have met Petro, adding “I love Colombia”. For his part, Petro said his team was looking for solutions and invited Trump to visit Cartagena.

Trump was effusive in his praise for the Colombian president, noting that they had “not exactly been the best friends” but that he never felt offended by Petro’s rhetoric. That’s par for the course with the US leader, as he seems to often make up with people after fierce words. He ended by saying he thought Petro was terrific and they got along great.

¿Qué me quiso decir Trump en esta dedicatoria?
No entiendo mucho el inglés pic.twitter.com/biNGKcVBu2

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 3, 2026

From being sworn enemies all through last year and with sharp words exchanged just a month ago peace has broken out with surprising speed between Donald and Gustavo. In a way, it’s more of a frenemy relationship than a bromance, with both realising that it suits them better to work together for the time being.

They’re also quite similar politicians, if polar opposites politically, which means they probably understand each other better than the rest of us do. Long-winded speeches to large rallies of supporters, unpredictable behaviour, constant use of socials – they basically work in the same way towards different ends.

Fears of Petro having to walk into the famed Oval Office bearpit were laid aside the night before when it was confirmed as a behind-closed-doors meeting. That was relatively unsurprising, given the Colombia president’s reluctance to speak English.

Also in the room were the presidents’ teams, including JD Vance and Marco Rubio on the US side. However, Petro made it clear that the reunion was between himself and Trump.

The crux of the meeting was over cocaine exports, which Petro said was mainly organised from abroad, naming Dubai, Madrid and Miami as their ‘capitals’. He said sharing information and working together was key and that he had passed names to the American administration.

An insider speaking to Colombian news source El Tiempo said that they thought Trump had bought the idea that the war on drugs had to be fought against cartel leaders and not campesinos. They said that Trump had said they would go after the bosses.

Venezuela was a topic of conversation too, with both countries looking towards reestablishing relations following the fall of Maduro. For Colombia, that involves controlling the flow of drugs across the long border in the east as well as working on oil and gas exports.

Quito and Bogotá have been engaged in a tit-for-tat tariff war in recent weeks, which is of course Trump’s speciality. He’s agreed to step in and mediate, which is good news for Colombia as he is a key ally of Ecuadorian president Noboa.

This is not full co-operation though, as some important things have yet to be resolved. Petro remains on the Clinton List and he noted that neither himself and Trump were given to changing their ways of thinking about things. Trump mentioned sanctions, but was not clear what that referred to.

Cordial tones and friendly words might not be concrete action, but it’s a significant difference from where we were just a month ago. The USA might not be everyone in Colombia’s favourite country, but it remains a key international relationship with strong links between the nations on many levels.

At the end of the meeting, Petro came out with MAGA hats, not his usual choice of attire. He then later took to socials to show off his customisation – an ‘S’ scrawled after ‘America’. That’s a thankfully restrained and playful take that shouldn’t raise any heckles, but serves to underline the point that for all the warm words, they have sharp differences of opinion.

Making the Americas great again would be in everyone’s best interest and thankfully it seems like they may be able to put egos and differences aside in order to pursue that. If the bonhomie of this week can be converted into meaningful results, it could make a lot of people’s lives better. That’s something to hope for.

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Colombian president Gustavo Petro is in the US capital for a crunch summit on bilateral relations. What’s behind it and what could happen?

After months of extremely strained relations with the US, Colombian president Gustavo Petro is now in Washington to meet his counterpart Donald Trump. The actual head-to-head is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday February 3rd. The Colombian team also includes key advisors such as the Canciller, Interior Minister, the USA business envoy and the Defense Minister.

While both sides have cooled their rhetoric, there’s plenty of unpredictability in both camps and past relations have been rocky to say the least. Petro and other members of his delegation had to be issued temporary visas just for the diplomatic visit, as Trump had previously cancelled his visa in September. 

That also applied to highly controversial Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, as well as members of Petro’s family. Before leaving, the president tweeted a particularly unusual post on X specifying that he’d visited his mother before leaving in a mildly ominous tone. He then expounded on love and sex in a non-sequiter.

Empiezo mi jornada de comunicación intensa con el gobierno de los EEUU, con mi entrevista con el representante de negocios de los EEUU en Colombia McNamara.

Antes de esta reunión he visitado a mi mamá para despedirme.

Les dejo la foto de mi mamá antes de casarse y de su amor… pic.twitter.com/7GmkV0hVwd

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 1, 2026

Petro is also somewhat predictably calling for protesters to fill the Bolívar square (as long it’s not raining) to defend the minimum wage increase, democracy and peace in Colombia. The first two have nothing to do with the Washington summit, while the latter isn’t seriously under threat from the US at this point.

Why is the Colombian president visiting Washington this week?

This was Trump’s offer after the war of words following Nicolás Maduro’s capture in early January. He initially suggested a phone call, after which a follow-up invitation to meet face to face in the White House was offered. 

After that initial call, the pair appeared to have ended up on relatively good terms, and for now there appears to be a wary calm between the Palacio Nariño and the White House. It’s too early to talk of a bromance, but there was certainly a rapid de-escalation.

The US president pointedly praised Petro’s tone in his tweet after they spoke over the phone, indicating that the Colombian president had been rather less bullish one on one compared to his public speeches and tweets. That hasn’t changed much in recent weeks.

Petro appears to have struck a far more conciliatory note when actually talking to the US president on Wednesday. For his part, Donald Trump also turned down the heat, saying it was a great honour to speak with the Colombian president and reaffirming his respect for the Colombian people.

The Colombian president went on to say that he had cleared the air and underlined that he is not connected to the illegal drug trade. He pointed out that he has stepped up seizures of drugs and has in fact been threatened various times over his life by drug cartels.

He’s gone further over the past week or so, claiming that estimates of Colombian coca crop capability in production are wildly inaccurate, especially when they come from foreign observers. He hasn’t helped matters by refusing to publish his own figures, but a recent high-profile seizure off the coast of Portugal won’t have hurt.

Petro was highly critical of Trump’s actions in the Caribbean from the outset. He warned Trump “not to wake the jaguar”, denounced his strikes on boats in international waters and convened an emergency meeting of the UN security council to investigate the Maduro affair.

Bad blood between the pair goes back a long way, with Trump’s grandstanding over deportations of Colombian nationals being met with strong pushback from Petro. Although the Colombian president eventually backed down from initial threats to not let the planes in, he met the deportees upon landing and symbolically undid their handcuffs.

Petro’s fierce criticism of the military build up in the Caribbean and Trump’s position on migration in terms of ICE and so forth had led to him and his estranged wife Veronica Alcócer being stuck on the Clinton List along with advisor and Interior Minister, Armando Benedetti.

The truth is that antagonistic public rhetoric plays well for both Petro and Trump, regardless of how much damage it may do to the reputation of either country. They both get to play the big man and impress their base, which both need right now in the face of domestic woes.

It’s entirely possible that both sides will have a relatively amiable meeting in which progress is made, before going back to lightly criticising one another in order to please their local audiences. Trump seems not to mind people doing that, even going so far as to encourage NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani to call him a fascist in a recent meeting. 

What can Petro’s team come back with?

There are a number of points to cover and a range of different outcomes on each. Military and security cooperation and guarantees are perhaps most important, with drug exportation, migration, ICE, visas and tariffs also on the table.

Much will depend on whether the meeting is televised or behind closed doors. Petro will by far prefer the latter and likely want to avoid as much as possible the media bearpit that Trump often sets up for visiting politicians.

Colombia will be looking for guarantees and assurances that US military action won’t happen on local soil. There’s no suggestion that Trump is looking to do that in the short term anyway, but it’s not hard to believe that could change, for example making a strike on cartel leaders within Colombian borders.

The USA might refuse to give an official guarantee but indicate that the option is currently off the table, which would still calm tensions significantly. Petro has made it clear he considers US military action a real danger. There’s also the possibility that the countries could agree to work together and cooperate. Again, this is likely to be far more palatable to the Colombian public.

Information sharing and support in terms of hardware and technology would be of great use to the Colombian military, after all, and both countries share a common interest in cracking down on the cartels, at least on paper.

Trump might demand a greater show of good faith from Petro in terms of action taken to combat the cartels, which is tricky. The Colombian state has been relatively efficient over the last three years at capturing drug smugglers and received little credit for it from Washington.

Colombian governments of all hues have struggled to deal with the problems of armed non-state actors, whether paramilitaries, cartels, guerillas or any mix of the above. Trump has little patience for this sort of thing and is results-oriented. That could be an excuse for unilateral action or could lead to an offer of help. Colombia will want the second of those options.

No economic instrument is more beloved by Donald Trump than tariffs, his self-declared ‘favourite word in the language’. Colombia is currently still at the global standard of 10% and won’t want that to change. That means it could be a powerful negotiating tool and Trump has threatened an increase in tariff rates at various points, as he does with many countries.

Colombia has turned more and more towards China in recent years, with Beijing helping guide construction of the Metro project in Bogotá. Trump may be looking to try and keep Colombia closer to the US economically, as fewer and fewer Latin countries treat their northern neighbour as the most important part of their trade network.

Visas, too, have been contentious. Waiting times at the US embassy were getting better but often involve months of waiting time. That hasn’t been helped by the recent freeze on residency visas for a swathe of countries including Colombia.

Speeding up processing times in Bogotá for basic American tourist and business visas would be relatively low-hanging fruit in negotiations. If both sides could agree, that would make a lot of people’s lives a lot easier and be popular in Colombia. 

In the best case scenario, Colombians can hope for no additional tariffs, military guarantees and cooperation and an easing on visas. In the worst case, Trump will impose drastic new economic measures, cancel a load of visas and keep a strong military presence in the Caribbean with eyes towards Colombia.

The end result will probably be somewhere in the middle of all that. Given the relatively calm immediate build-up to the trip, it’s most likely that an accord can be reached that both sides can present as positive if not perfect. It doesn’t suit either side to have a massive bust-up at this point, but we are talking about two politicians with a reputation for fits of pique.

More cynically-minded people may wonder if a more personal deal may be struck as well – Petro off the Clinton list and his US visa reinstated. He’s talked before about wanting to tour the world as a public speaker on social and environmental issues and this would make that easier.

Whatever does happen in the meeting, it will be pivotal for relations between the US and Colombia. With the country being one of the last in Latin America to have the USA as their biggest trade partner, that affects many ordinary people.

For the business community, the impact of potential tariffs or restrictions could be huge. For NGOs and rights workers, re-establishing foreign aid would be very useful. For ordinary folk, further controls or freezes on visas would be a real pain. For everyone, a sense that military action was definitely off the table would bring much-needed peace of mind.

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What’s coming for Colombia in 2026? A new president, a return to the world cup and all the usual sports, music and culture are ahead. There’s also plenty of uncertainty for now.

It had seemed that the only big political news of the year would be the election cycle and incoming president. However, all that changed on the first weekend of the year as the US military captured Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and brought him to face charges in New York.

Then at the end of January, the Corte Constitucional blocked president Petro’s economic emergency declaration, plunging the country into another round of uncertainty. While the court deliberates, the country’s businesses will have to wait to see what’s ahead. Meanwhile, minimum salary workers can celebrate their first COP$2,000,000 paychecks.

#LaCorteInforma | La Corte suspende provisionalmente el Decreto 1390 de 2025 “Por el cual se declara el Estado de Emergencia Económica y Social en todo el territorio nacional”, mientras se profiere una decisión de fondo.

Comunicado: pic.twitter.com/Ow6rC40Ixb

— Corte Constitucional (@CConstitucional) January 29, 2026

February won’t let up as Petro’s off to Washington at the start of the month to meet Donald Trump in what could be a tense meeting. While both sides have cooled their rhetoric, there’s plenty of unpredictability in both camps. This is perhaps best illustrated by Petro having to be granted a 5-day visa just to visit, Trump having cancelled his last one.

It’s anyone’s guess how that might end, with Petro currently blocking the release of coca growing figures and denying the reliability of foreign sources. In the best case scenario, Colombians can hope for no additional tariffs, military guarantees and cooperation and an easing on visas.

This is a year with big events set to dominate after a relatively quiet 2025 still managed to contain plenty of shocks and surprises. As ever, Colombia seems set to live in interesting times. We’ll be here throughout the year to keep you up to speed on what’s going on and why, from entertainment to hard news.

Another big election

Expect Colombians to grumble as they are called up for compulsory vote counting duty. There will be two sets of elections this year, with voting for the Senate and House of Representatives taking place first on the 8th of March. There will also be voting for candidates in blocks on that day.

After that, it’s the presidential race on the 31st of May with a likely run off between the top two candidates around three weeks later. The last four elections have all featured second rounds and no candidate looks capable of registering more than half the initial vote.

As with many presidential systems, there’s an enormous gap between winners being declared and them arriving in office. Pleasingly, this takes place on national days: the Senators and Representatives won’t arrive until Colombian Independence (20th July) and the president takes over on the anniversary of the Batalla de Boyacá (7th August).

The presidential runners and riders are in a very crowded field right now, but that will thin out until the 13th March, the final deadline for candidacies. The 8th March vote for various lists of candidates is especially important for this. The race remains wide open at the moment, with no clear leader and a very good opportunity for someone to come out of nowhere. 

Interestingly, there’s a good chance that Colombia will elect its first ever female and/or LGBTQI president, with Vicky Dávila, Paloma Valencia, Daniel Oviedo and Claudia López all potentially already in the mix or capable of putting together a big surge.

On the loosely defined left, Iván Cepeda is the official candidate for Pacto, having won out in the internal poll. Luis Murillo is also in the hunt, with Roy Barreras and the formerly-discredited Medellín mayor Daniel Quintero as outsiders. Cepeda will absolutely dominate the leftist vote and is very likely to make the second round as a result.

A host of candidates on the nominal right are standing, with former journalist Dávila and Centro Democrático heavyweight Valencia in the ‘Gran Consulta’ block which defines itself as centrist but would be considered by many to be at least right-leaning. 

The wildcards here are Abelardo de la Espriella, a tough on crime former lawyer who led the field in gathering public nominations at over 5 million and serial candidate and former Medellín mayor Sergio Fajardo who narrowly failed to make the second round last time around.

Harder to pin down are candidates such as Claudia López and Juan Daniel Oviedo. They could surprise some people with a strong spring surge, especially if they can channel a dislike of established parties. However, López has baggage from her time as Bogotá mayor and Oviedo is in the ‘Gran Consulta’, meaning he’ll struggle to stay in the race.

Tying up loose ends

Elsewhere in the political landscape are other issues that could do with being resolved before the change in head of state. Paz Total is nowhere near happening, with a number of talks deadlocked or non-existent, the economic emergency is currently frozen and Venezuelan relations remain unclear.

If the economic emergency goes ahead, there will be increased IVA (VAT or Sales Tax) on a range of things including online gambling, liquor and wine. There will also be a dramatic change in importation limits, with a limit of USD$50 for tax-exempt gifts.  

The ELN have asked to get back to the table, perhaps sensing that a possible right-wing government might not be quite so favourably disposed to their antics. Petro himself seems to have lost patience though, dismissing the request out of hand due to their recent attacks on Colombian army members.

Inflation will probably remain high and base interest rates are now in double digits as a result. However, the economy is chugging along decently and consumer spending remains strong. The minimum wage increase will likely help that continue and with a weakening dollar, prices may start to stabilise.

Whatever happens in Venezuela will have a big impact in Colombia. If the country opens up again, it’s entirely possible that some of the three million or so Venezuelans in the country may return. That will ease pressure in the labour market, increase trade flows and please a certain type of politician.

If Delcy Rodríguez stays in office with US support, things may be a lot more complicated. There’s not much love for the Venezuelan regime in Colombian political circles, meaning trade may not take off and there is likely to be limited cooperation on regional matters.

Ecuadorian relations also are heading in a downward spiral, with Noboa and Petro currently engaged in a tit-for-tat trade war and imposing hefty tariffs on each other. That’s choking trade across the border and affecting cooperation on cross-border security issues.

If there is a change in government, there might be more serious attempts to investigate a range of overhanging scandals such as the peculiar case of Laura Sarabia, currently ambassador to the UK and Juliana Guerrero’s and others’ mysterious qualifications.

With six months more in office, Petro has plenty of time to address these scandals or start new ones. Expect his twitter account to get even more heated between March and June as he gets involved in the election. He’s also likely to continue the ministerial merry-go-round which is past 60 changes already.

His approval ratings upon leaving office are likely to be higher than either of his two immediate predecessors. After a sharp post-election fall, he’s stayed consistently relatively popular by Colombian presidential standards and showing an uptick in recent months. For all the mutterings of doom when he came in, he’ll leave office in a relatively good position.

Big issues in Bogotá

Mayor Gálan is halfway through his tenure and has little to show for it so far. He’s managed to keep things ticking over but has not made big changes, nor has much of a legacy as things stand. The Metro was his inheritance and will be inaugurated under the next mayor, so he could do with something big this year. Trouble is, there’s nothing on his books for now.

Transport is perhaps the biggest issue, with the Metro still firmly on track. Gálan deserves credit for this, as the project has not been without problems and has endured meddling from the Palacio Nariño. Regiotram to the westerly satellite towns is also still on the way.

On the other hand, there will be even more disruption in the short term thanks to the Metro works, and road quality is awful. Road traffic incidents are stubbornly high, with nearly 500 deaths predicted over 2026.

Prices have been hiked to COP$3,550 on the Transmilenio and SITP for 2026, despite Gálan’s earlier pledge not to do so. The mayor says it’s unavoidable due to the minimum wage rise. Petro has responded by refusing to fund a new fleet of electric buses.

Water rationing was an issue this time last year, but it seems unlikely to return for the short term, thanks to the unseasonal levels of rain we’ve had over the holiday period. An El Niño event is predicted for the year but there’s little sign of it so far. 

Crime is nominally coming down, but few believe the official figures. Perceptions of crime remain high and most Bogotanos feel unsafe in the city. It’s not hard to see why – it feels like there are more and more chirretes around and fewer police.

One thing that is always in view is rubbish, with big piles over much of the city. Some of this is from an increase in fly-tipping, some from a faulty collection system struggling to keep up and others from a simple breakdown in civic values. 

A succession of Bogotá mayors have avoided the issue after Petro got into hot water in his time in office, but things are coming to a head now. It’s becoming a public health problem with rats frequently seen even in midday as well as a simple blight on the city. 

Entertainment

Peso Pluma has pulled out of Festival Estéreo Picnic 2026, but la Tigresa del Oriente has joined, which is probably a win. The best event in Bogotá, and by extension Colombia, remains a top-drawer festival with genuine international heavyweights which is well worth getting tickets for if you’re in town.

With a lineup boasting Tyler, The Creator, The Killers and Deftones, the festival is a viable cultural tourism draw if you’re visiting. Prices are competitive with North American and European fests and experiencing a Latin American festival environment is something most music fans should relish.

Balancing FEP2026 is Festival Cordillera 2026 in September, which offers a different attraction: the chance to see what (loosely defined) contemporary Latin music sounds like. The event focuses almost exclusively on Latin talent from across the musical spectrum, giving you the opportunity to explore a soundscape you may not know too much about.

Sadly, those two mega-festivals are helping sound the death knell for Rock al Parque. It hasn’t really recovered post-COVID and has been poorly managed by the alcaldía. Hopefully it can find its feet again, and the offshoots (salsa al parque, rap al parque etc) are all still strong and accessible.

Flying under the radar last year was Colombia’s first ever board games convention, Ludotopia. Given the enormous success of the event, it’s likely to run again. In other boardgaming news, Wingspan will launch an Americas expansion featuring a bevy of local aves, illustrated by Colombian lead designers Ana Maria Martínez and Natalia Rojas.

Filbo from 21 April- 5 May is the nation’s keystone for literary events, accessible and open to all with a strong focus on education as usual. The country of invitation this year is India, a welcome departure from the usual Latin or European focus and sure to open up exciting new possibilities.

Geekfest SOFA will be in October, which has turned into an absolute juggernaut of an event. Crowds will be intense in the daytime weekends, so try and make it there on weekdays or in the evenings if you’re going. Comic Con is much quieter but lacks the joyfulness of SOFA, being much more commercial in nature.

Colombian sporting specials in 2026

Colombia have a reasonably straightforward World Cup group and will be aiming high. Head coach Nestor Lorenzo has turned dressing room morale around 180° and taken los cafeteros to a runner’s up spot in the last Copa América.

With Colombia currently ranked 13th by FIFA, they are expected to do well and will be seen as a team to beat. Matching the 2014 run to the quarter-finals will be no easy task, but achievable. Surpassing it would be a real upset but it’s a funny old game and anything could happen. The squad is well built for tournament football, with key players such as James capable of burning bright for a few weeks.

There’s also plenty to keep an eye on in domestic football, with Falcao returning to Millonarios. That didn’t go fantastically well in the 2024 apertura, as city rivals Santa Fe knocked them out and went to lift the trophy. El Tigre didn’t take that well at all, throwing his toys out of the pram in a charged presser after the match. Santa Fe went on to win the Supercup at the start of this year.

After working wonders with Wrexham, Hollywood superstar Ryan Reynolds will be hoping to do similar for Inter de Bogotá. Previously known as La Equidad, the team changed name after being acquired by Reynolds’ investment vehicle. The actor has already donned the jersey and may appear at games in 2026.

In non-traditional sport, Cricket Colombia are celebrating their recent designation as an official sport in the country. They’re getting things kicked off with the Barranquilla Cricket tournament from February 20-22 seeing regional teams from Santa Marta, Bogotá, Cali and Medellín fighting it out to decide national supremacy. Cartagena, Santa Marta and Barranquilla are also hosting a women’s competition as the sport grows in the country.

Egg-chasers are spoilt for choice with Gaelic football in the capital as well as Aussie Rules, American football and rugby across the country. With the Superbowl coming up, if you are inspired, get in touch with the American football leagues across the country.

The Colombian women’s sevens are currently competing in the SVNS championship in Dubai and making a good account of themselves. The Toucans are punching above their weight with limited resources available to them.

AFL in Colombia continues to build momentum, and Gaelic football is becoming a bigger deal as well, with the Bogotá Beithigh practising on a more consistent basis in partnership with Colombia rugby to help build their profile.

What’s most likely to happen in Colombia in 2026?

Well, frankly put, the most likely thing is a big surprise in Colombia in 2026. Unexpected events seem to happen with regularity, so there’s every chance something comes out of leftfield. Plenty of things popped up in 2025 that we hadn’t seen coming this time last year.

Having said that, there are some good bets to lay: the economy should continue strengthening and the dollar exchange should ease back in the direction of COP$3,000 (which remains a long way off). There definitely will be a new president, even if it’s a continuity candidate and we will see changes in the Senate.

The big cultural events of 2026 in Colombia look like they’ll all be roaring successes as usual, as the country shows no sign of slowing down.

It’s unlikely that any of the peace processes will come to a conclusion and depressingly likely that they will face more turmoil if certain candidates take over in the Palacio de Nariño. While we can all hope that things will improve in the capital, there’s currently no sign that will happen. On the other hand, steady progress will continue on existing projects.

En fin, it’s likely to be six months of the usual turmoil and drama, culminating in two huge events: May-June’s presidential elections and the fortunes of the footballers in North America at the World Cup in July. Then we’ll face the remainder of the year watching what the president does in his or her first months. Whatever happens, there’ll be plenty going on in Colombia in 2026.

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Petro’s emergency order has been put on hold while the constitutional court examines its legality further. What does this mean for your pocket and the country’s future?

For the first time in Colombian history, the constitutional court on Thursday overruled a presidential order and temporarily negated Gustavo Petro’s declaration of an economic emergency. He had done that in order to get his budget through, essentially bypassing the need to get it through parliament. That’s now been put on hold.

The decree hasn’t actually been struck down, just paused while the court makes a decision on the constitutionality of the order. This means weeks of uncertainty while they deliberate. The decision was taken 6-2 with two abstentions, meaning that there’s a clear majority in favour of negation at this point.

#LaCorteInforma | La Corte suspende provisionalmente el Decreto 1390 de 2025 “Por el cual se declara el Estado de Emergencia Económica y Social en todo el territorio nacional”, mientras se profiere una decisión de fondo.

Comunicado: pic.twitter.com/Ow6rC40Ixb

— Corte Constitucional (@CConstitucional) January 29, 2026

Petro’s declaration of economic, social and ecological emergency was known officially as Decreto 1390 of 22 December 2025. No measures deriving from the decree can be implemented yet, although it will stay formally on the books for now, until the final decision is taken on whether it can stand.

Predictably, he’s reacted furiously to the news, saying that the public should decide. He claims it’s a political decision aimed at protecting the establishment and countering his progressive aims. Furthermore, he says that the court has not properly studied the executive’s arguments.

Cuando desde hace décadas la Corte Constitucional prohibió suspender provisionalmente un decreto de emergencia, la actual Corte Constitucional, sin estudiar nuestras razones, decidió hacerlo.

Se trata literalmente de prejuzgar, pero además se hace por dos razones: por que es un…

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 30, 2026

Even more provocatively, he’s presenting this as a rupture of constitutional order. This should not be taken lightly: he’s essentially arguing for fewer checks and balances on the presidential office. This is a common theme in caudillo politics and one that many in Latin America will recognise.

The large increase in the minimum salary is being dragged into the argument in what appears to be an attempt to win support for the president’s emergency measures. The latter is a dry matter that few take interest in and the former is something that everyone can see and many support.

While there is little to no chance of the minimum salary increase being revoked, it does stir emotions more effectively than a constitutional affair that many take no interest in. He’s also making the argument that this is class war and the working people should not have to bear the cost of the deficit.

His controversial sidekick Armando Benedetti, currently Interior Minister after a string of previous positions has also come out swinging, saying that the court does not have the right to overrule the head of state and that they are protecting the megarich.

No hay derecho. Al suspender provisionalmente la Emergencia Económica se está protegiendo a los megarricos. pic.twitter.com/0UlK6Elzti

— Armando Benedetti (@AABenedetti) January 29, 2026

While the ruling by the Corte Constitucional is unprecedented, it was not a big shock. Petro was quite clearly playing politics with the decree and is now dealing with the consequences. It was seen in December as an unusual and authoritarian move which had a good chance of being denied. A freeze was always likely, with full rejection absolutely possible.

The court justified its decision by arguing that the financial problems the country has are not exceptional circumstances that demand emergency measures, such as COVID-19 or a natural disaster. Rather, they are structural problems that require a regular solution.

More tellingly, the tribunal noted that the motivation behind the decree was not clearly defined and likely political. It went on to point out formal irregularities and problems with the legal design of the decree.   

There had been significant pushback from elected officials to the plan, with 17 departmental governors refusing to implement decree 1474, a follow-on from the economic emergency decree, claiming it was potentially unconstitutional and that this would put them at financial risk if it failed.

This opens serious questions as to the limits on the president’s power, the position of the constitutional court and the viability of future tax reforms. It also sets the clock ticking for a decision, as the Senate and House elections are coming up fast, on March 8th. If this matter is not resolved by the time presidential elections are happening, things will get complicated.

So what does it mean for my pocket?

In the short term, all the planned tax hikes are frozen. That means there likely won’t be price drops, just that some things that were set to rise significantly won’t do so. In fact, as inflation remains high, expect plenty of sticker shock anyway. 

Full-rate IVA (VAT or sales tax) was due to go onto liquor and wine, so it’s good news for rum drinkers, winos and aguardiente fans. Gamblers, too, have a reprieve as there will also be no IVA increase for online betting. Finally, smokers won’t see extra taxes on tobacco consumption.

The planned USD$50 limitation on tax-exempt gifts won’t go into effect, making buying from overseas relatively cost-effective for a while longer.

The wealth tax will stay where it is for now, with the bar remaining at COP$3.6bn and progressive rates not coming into play. However, those in debt with local tax revenue authority DIAN will not see a reduction in either interest payments or penalties for late payment.

Elsewhere in the economy, the bankers have avoided a 15% extra supertax and there will be no new charges levied on natural resource extraction. The latter were in any case only designed to be temporary.

It’s technically possible, but very unlikely, that monies already gathered will be returned. The corte constitucional has traditionally avoided retroactive economic decisions, preferring to rule in favour of protecting the state’s finances. That means some COP$800bn that has been collected will stay in limbo for now but almost certainly be unfrozen whatever happens.

What happens next?

Immediately, political and economic uncertainty, as this is only a temporary suspension to revise the legal position. That means weeks more of companies not knowing where they stand for the medium term and politicians taking the opportunity to grandstand and indulge themselves.

There are two paths from here: either the court decides that the economic emergency declaration was valid, in which case we simply revert to the original measures set out in the decree, or it is struck down and everything is up in the air.

Petro is correct when he points out that this will mean he has to borrow more to finance the running of the state, which will increase the national debt. The deficit also still stands and continues to grow, meaning in turn so does the debt. This is long-term unsustainable.

Somewhere down the line, a Colombian president will have to do something to address the deficit the country has been running for years since the collapse of the natural resource boom. However, Duque’s attempt to reform the tax system was met with massive protests and Petro has fared no better while also increasing spending. 

There are no signs that any of the candidates in this year’s election are likely to fare any better. Expect to see plenty of grandiose plans and vague suggestions but little fine detail in any manifestos. Quite simply, running on a platform of promising to increase taxation is a death knoll for any candidate.

All of the measures that could be taken are politically poisonous. Cutting spending is hard to do once people have become accustomed to it, stealth taxes abound and business rates are already high. A more progressive income taxation system would need to involve widening the tax base, which will mean more voters paying tax for the first time.

For many regular folk, just keeping their head above water is already hard enough without extra costs suddenly appearing. They won’t vote for more taxes, or even any taxes, as many are simply not taxed directly. At the same time, without significant natural resources popping up, the only way out of the middle-income trap is tax reform.

There’s also the question of the role played by the constitutional court. While nominally independent, it is supported or decried by all sides of the political spectrum depending on who it’s perceived to favour at any one point. There are already calls to ignore it in the name of the ‘people’s will’, conveniently undefined. Expect those to grow in number.

Where will Colombia go in the short term? Probably nowhere, as kicking the can down the road is still possible for a few years more. It’s likely that state spending will slow down, minor budgetary changes will get through and the country will muddle along. 

Having already lost investment grade status after Duque’s botched reform, the country hasn’t much to lose for now. There are also promising economic signs, meaning that strong GDP growth could alleviate the situation considerably. However, the national debt will be hanging like the sword of Damocles over future presidents.

The post Emergency over: Constitutional Court freezes Petro’s decree appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

It was a busy week with Apple's first real launches of 2026, led by the release of the Creator Studio app bundle and the second-generation AirTag.


We also got some rumors about Apple's plans for Mac updates in 2026, timing on the more personalized Siri finally arriving, and a significant acquisition by Apple, so read on below for all the details!

Top Stories

Apple's 'Creator Studio' App Bundle Now Available for $12.99 Per Month

Apple this week launched the new Creator Studio bundle that was initially unveiled earlier this month, providing content creators with access to six Apple apps for $12.99 per month or $129 per year.


Creator Studio includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Pixelmator Pro on Mac and iPad, along with Motion, Compressor, and MainStage on the Mac. Final Cut Pro is Apple's video editing software, Logic Pro is for audio editing and creation, and Pixelmator Pro is an image editing app that Apple purchased in 2024.

The Creator Studio bundle unlocks AI features that are not otherwise accessible in these apps, plus it adds new features to free apps like Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, with Freeform coming later.

Be sure to check out our initial hands-on overview if you're thinking about subscribing to the bundle.

Apple Unveils New AirTag With Longer Range, Louder Speaker, and More

Apple this week introduced the second-generation AirTag, with key features including longer range for tracking items and a louder speaker.


The new AirTag is equipped with a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, enabling the Precision Finding feature to work up to 50% farther away from an item compared to the previous-generation model, according to Apple. The new AirTag also has an upgraded Bluetooth chip for improved overall range outside of Precision Finding mode.

Apple also introduced this year's Black Unity band for Apple Watch, a Unity Connection Braided Solo Loop featuring the red, green, and black colors of the Pan-African flag.

iPhone 5s Gets New Software Update 13 Years After Launch

Apple released iOS 26.2.1 this week to support the new second-generation AirTag, but the company also released a slew of other iOS updates for older devices that can't run iOS 26. That includes an iOS 12.5.8 update for the iPhone 5s and 6, which is remarkable considering the iPhone 5s will turn 13 years old later this year.


The iOS updates released this week for older devices extend a certificate required for device activation, iMessage, and FaceTime, allowing these aging devices to remain functional for those who are still using them.

Apple Reportedly Aiming to Upgrade the MacBook Pro Twice This Year

Apple plans to release new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Studio Display models in the first half of this year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


In his Power On newsletter this week, Gurman added that redesigned MacBook Pro models with an OLED touch screen "should be hitting toward the end of 2026," meaning that the MacBook Pro line would be upgraded twice this year.

It would be a rare but not unprecedented move for Apple to update the MacBook Pro twice in a year, but while previous rumors had indicated the M6 generation could arrive in either late 2026 or early 2027, Gurman now seems to be leaning more heavily toward the update arriving before the end of this year.

Meanwhile, the wait for the M5 Pro and M5 Max models continues.

Here's When Apple Plans to Unveil a New Siri Powered by Google Gemini

A more personalized version of Siri powered by Google Gemini is expected to be introduced next month, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


"The company has been planning an announcement of the new Siri in the second half of February, when it will give demonstrations of the functionality," he wrote, in the latest edition of his weekly Power On newsletter.

The interim improvements to Siri will come ahead of a much bigger upgrade to include chatbot functionality and significantly more capabilities in iOS 27, which will be introduced at WWDC in June.

Apple Just Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever After Beats

Apple has been criticized by some observers for slow-rolling its entry into AI technology, with some suggesting the company needs to make a major acquisition to try to catch up to rivals already establishing themselves in the space.


Apple made a bit of a splash this week with its acquisition of Q.ai, which uses AI to analyze facial expressions to understand "silent speech." It's not nearly a deal on the scale of acquiring one of the major chatbot players, but at a valuation of nearly $2 billion, according to reports, it appears to stand as Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever behind Beats in 2014.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!
This article, "Top Stories: Apple Creator Studio, AirTag 2, and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple rumors are starting to pick up now that we're a few weeks into 2026, and this week saw some potential clarity around conflicting iPhone 18 Pro rumors, plus some new word on Apple's plans for Siri.


This week also saw a report that Apple is working on some sort of AI pin while also making progress toward a major MacBook Pro revamp, so read on below for all the details!

Top Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Leak: Smaller Dynamic Island, No Top-Left Camera Cutout

Over the last few months, rumors around the iPhone 18 Pro's front-panel design have been conflicted, with some supply chain leaks pointing to under-display Face ID, reports suggesting a top-left hole-punch camera, and debate over whether the familiar Dynamic Island will shrink, shift, or disappear entirely.


According to frequent Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital, however, early reports from Chinese and Korean sources about the possible relocation of an infrared Face ID component were later mistranslated in some English-language coverage, leading to incorrect claims of a hole-punch camera. In fact, the Dynamic Island will remain on the iPhone 18 Pro and simply be roughly 35% narrower. That smaller Dynamic Island interpretation has also been corroborated by respected display analyst Ross Young.

Apple's OLED MacBook Pro Launch Moves Closer With Panel Production

Rumors have been pointing toward Apple launching a revamped MacBook Pro with OLED displays late this year or early next year, and things appear to have taken a step forward this month with a report claiming that Samsung's production line that will produce displays for the new laptop has gone into operation.


The MacBook Pro is just one of five Apple products expected to gain OLED displays in the next few years as Apple continues to adopt the more advanced display technology.

Before the MacBook Pro gets OLED displays, there's still another update to the current version in the works to add M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. with rumors and shipping delays suggesting a launch could be coming fairly soon.

A Siri Chatbot is Coming in iOS 27

Apple plans to turn Siri into a chatbot that will rival Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini, and OpenAI's ChatGPT, Bloomberg reported this week. Apple did not initially plan to introduce a chatbot, but their popularity forced Apple executives to reconsider.


Codenamed Campos, the ‌Siri‌ chatbot will be integrated into iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, replacing the current version of ‌Siri‌. It will have the same natural language conversation functionality as chatbots like ChatGPT, and it will be accessible by using the "‌Siri‌" wake word or by holding down the side button on an iPhone or iPad.

The chatbot version of Siri arriving in iOS 27 later this year will follow the initial upgrade to a more personalized version of the current Siri that we expect to arrive in just a few months with iOS 26.4.

Apple's Next iPhone: What to Expect From the 2026 iPhone 17e

We're likely just weeks away from Apple's next iPhone launch, with the company set to introduce the ‌iPhone‌ 17e. The ‌iPhone‌ 17e is a follow-up to the iPhone 16e that came out in February 2025, and rumors suggest that it could have some welcome improvements.


Check out our recap of all the rumors we've heard about the next version of Apple's cheapest iPhone model to help decide if it might be the right one for you.

Apple Developing AirTag-Sized AI Pin With Dual Cameras

Apple is working on a small, wearable AI pin equipped with multiple cameras, a speaker, and microphones, reports The Information. If it actually launches, the AI pin will likely run the new Siri chatbot that Apple plans to unveil in iOS 27.


The pin is said to be similar in size to an AirTag, with a thin, flat, circular disc shape. It has an aluminum and glass shell, and two cameras at the front. There is a standard lens and a wide-angle lens that are meant to capture photos and videos, while three microphones are designed to pick up sound around the wearer. An included speaker allows the pin to play audio, and there is a physical control button along one edge. The device is able to wirelessly charge like an Apple Watch.

iPhone 18 Rumored to Feature Much Brighter Display

Apple's iPhone 18 will feature a significantly brighter display, according to a Chinese leaker.


In a post this week on Weibo, the user known as Instant Digital said that Chinese supplier BOE has little hope of making panels for the ‌iPhone 18‌ because Apple's brightness requirements for the next-generation device are unprecedentedly high. This suggests that the ‌iPhone 18‌'s display will see a considerable leap forward in terms of brightness.

While the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are expected to launch in the usual September time frame, the regular iPhone 18‌ isn't expected to launch until early 2027.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!
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A week on from the extraordinary events of the third of January, where does Colombia stand, what happens next and what do people think?

Despite aggressive rhetoric, Colombian president Gustavo Petro and US president Donald Trump have ended up on relatively good terms over the last week after Maduro’s capture, and for now there appears to be a wary calm between the Palacio Nariño and the White House. It’s too early to talk of a bromance, but there’s certainly been a rapid de-escalation.

The US president pointedly praised Petro’s tone in his tweet after they spoke over the phone on Wednesday, indicating that the Colombian president had been rather less bullish one on one compared to his public speeches and tweets.

Petro also seems happy with the conversation, saying that he had cleared the air and underlining that he is not connected to the illegal drug trade. He pointed out that he has stepped up seizures of drugs and has in fact been threatened various times over his life by drug cartels.

Esto es Histórico.

Hablaremos con Trump, de la Paz del Continente, de la soberanía , de un Pacto por la Vida basado en las energías limpias. Se puede descarbonizar la matriz de EEUU si se vuelve real el potencial de energías limpias de Suramérica pic.twitter.com/0bqPP2lAYe

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 8, 2026

Petro had criticised his counterpart in the White House all week, convened protests against the US military’s actions in Venezuela and called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, of which Colombia is a temporary member.

However, Petro appears to have struck a far more conciliatory note when actually talking to the US president on Wednesday. For his part, Donald Trump also turned down the heat, saying it was a great honour to speak with the Colombian president and that they would talk further in person at the White House.

Petro has confirmed that this will take place in the first week of February. He’s also invited interim Venezuelan president Delcy Rodríguez to visit the Palacio Nariño for talks.

Alongside his usual flurry of tweets, Petro had been setting this in motion, with his Interior Minister (and former ambassador to Venezuela) Armando Benedetti sending a memo to the US underlining their commitment to fighting drug production.

Antagonism serves both sides

Petro has been highly critical of Trump’s actions in the Caribbean from the outset. He has warned Trump “not to wake the jaguar” and denounced his strikes on boats over the last few months.

Bad blood between the pair goes back a long way, but has really ramped up in recent weeks. Even before the extraordinary events of last weekend, Petro’s fierce criticism of the military build up in the Caribbean had led to him and his estranged wife Veronica Alcócer being stuck on the Clinton List.

The truth is that antagonistic public rhetoric plays well for both Petro and Trump, regardless of how much damage it may do to the reputation of either country. They both get to play the big man and impress their base, which both need right now in the face of domestic woes.

Presidente Donald J. Trump sobre la llamada con el Presidente Gustavo Petro: https://t.co/1lTgSYF8hb

— US Embassy Bogota (@USEmbassyBogota) January 8, 2026

Trump doesn’t seem to mind Petro’s words, as long as he gets his way. That fits with his previous actions, including his fallout when running against current Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He says Petro’s been very hostile, but that’s all in the past.

For Petro, this also sets him up nicely for his post-presidential life. In an interview this week he expressed a desire to tour the world speaking at conferences and the international exposure this week has been good for that. On top of that, Trump will likely lift the restrictions on him and his family as a reward for toeing the US line.

What’s the feeling in the calles?

One could have been forgiven for not noticing the midweek protests. Despite the best efforts of hyperbolic foreign journos, Bogotá has been far from a seething cauldron of dissent. In reality, a few hundred Petro diehards trooped out as expected.

Most Colombians are well aware of the reality of Maduro’s rule and the abuses carried out in its name. Apart from a very few outliers, there is no love lost for Nicolás Maduro and an overwhelming satisfaction that he’s no longer Venezuelan president.

That’s not to say, though, that Colombians are wildly happy about the current situation. Colombia is a very different country to her neighbour, but there remains a relatively well-founded concern among many that there may be attacks on Colombian territory.

Anti-American sentiment is not exactly thriving, but graffiti and the like is already going up in certain parts of the city. There’s little to no appetite in the country for any US military activity in Colombia, even against cartels or guerrillas.

Worries still linger over the possibility of other repercussions. The waits for American visas have only just started to come down, with new appointments a year hence. Many worry that will increase again and that extant visas for expat Colombians may be affected too.

Tariffs, too, are never far from people’s minds, although Trump’s current position towards Colombia seems to be benign. Tourism will possibly be affected, both in the short and medium term.

Of course, Bogotá has a thriving Venezuelan expat community as well. While there is general delight at Maduro being arrested, there remain justifiable fears over what comes next. Delcy Rodríguez is seemingly no-one’s first choice and most hope for the promise of free and fair elections.

The Plaza de Bolívar and many others around both Bogotá and Colombia have seen large groups of Venezuelans gathering both to celebrate Maduro’s fall and to call for a transition towards a proper democracy. Most, however, are just getting on with life and wary of reading too much into things at present.

A particular trend has been for exiled Venezuelans to take to social media in order to decry what they often see as ‘Venezuelasplaining’. Many accounts are keen to point out that while the US might only be interested in oil, neither were China, Russia and Iran after arepa recipes.

Venezuelan man:

“Those who say that the U.S. is only interested in our oil, I ask you: What do you think the Russians and the Chinese wanted here?

The recipe for arepas?" pic.twitter.com/BWpCmCxFGI

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 4, 2026

As for other Colombian politicians, there’s been a mixed reaction. The Centro Democrático has had a well-coordinated and fierce response, aggressively trying to connect Petro and his allies to Maduro, with some success.

Others are resisting the temptation to use Venezuela as a political football, preferring to cautiously celebrate Maduro’s capture while expressing concern both about the manner it was done and the current political inclarity in the country.

What happens next?

For now, Delcy Rodríguez appears to be in control of Venezuela. She’s been sworn in as president and Trump says she’s committed to working with Washington. That means allowing US oil companies in, buying American goods and stopping shadow fleet sales.

While Trump had initially been dismissive of Maria Corina Machado, saying she had little support or respect in Venezuela, he’s changed his position a little and has a meeting lined up with her soon. This may be connected to her apparent offer to share her Nobel Peace Prize with him.

Regime enforcers have been on maneuvers throughout the past week to quieten internal dissent and quell momentum towards thoughts of a full democratic transition. The ELN has stepped up operations near to the Venezuelan border and Iván Mordisco has suggested a coalition of guerrillas to fight interventionism.

Plenty remains unclear about the whole situation. Trump has expressed a lot of opinions and thoughts but hasn’t elaborated on what the details behind any of it might be. There’s also a worrying lack of corroboration from other players. 

Rodríguez and Petro haven’t really confirmed his takes on their talks, nor have oil companies definitively committed to full investment. At the moment, it seems like all parties are reasonably happy with the state of play but keeping options open. 

Petro gets to play the plucky leader standing up to US imperialism, shoring up his party’s base at home ahead of coming elections while burnishing his reputation overseas. Trump gets to be the decisive commander in chief that took out a rival, while Rodríguez has received a promotion.

For now, it really could go in a number of different directions and small actions might be the things that push the country in certain directions. There are lots of cards on the table and plenty of big decisions to be taken.

Worryingly, the most likely scenario at the moment seems to be that the regime continues in power, just with a new leader and a new-found willingness, however reluctant, to work with the USA. For the ordinary Venezuelan, tragically, little much has changed as things stand.

The post Trump and Petro: Eagle Vs Jaguar appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

The US carried out limited airstrikes in Venezuela this morning and claim to have captured Nicolás Maduro. Colombia has reacted with strong condemnation.

Colombia this morning woke to the news that US forces had attacked the neighbouring capital Caracas. President Donald Trump claimed via Truth Social that Maduro had been captured and extricated from the country, with the airstrikes necessary for that operation to take place.

It later emerged that the attack and capture was an arrest. The US has confirmed Maduro’s indictment in New York and that he will stand trial for narcotrafficking and potentially other offences. This dates back to 2020, although it was not widely known that Maduro’s wife Cilia, captured with him, had also been part of that case.

What is Colombia’s position?

Unsurprisingly, President Gustavo Petro is firmly against US action in general and particularly in the neighbouring country. In the short term he has sent troops to the border in preparation for a possible surge in refugees. Interestingly, it seems that the Colombian government may have had advance warning, as his security meeting started at 3AM.

Acabamos de terminar consejo de seguridad nacional desde las 3 am.

Se despliega la fuerza pública en la frontera, se despliega toda la fuerza asistencial que dispongamos en caso de entrada masiva de refugiados.

La embajada de Colombia en Venezuela está activa a llamadas de…

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 3, 2026

Petro rejects all US actions that violates the sovereignty of Venezuela and Latin America. He has said already that he will use his position on the UN security council to discuss this matter and search for a solution. In this, he will find support domestically and internationally.

For many in Colombia, and indeed Latin America in general, this brings memories of US interventionism during the Cold War. From helping to topple Allende in Chile, supporting dictatorships across the Southern Cone and the Sandinista affair, there is a long history of meddling in regional politics.

Equally, there is no love for Nicolás Maduro in Colombia. That is shared across the political spectrum for different reasons and comes through solidarity with the Venezuelan people, a dislike of the immigration wave he caused or a fierce disagreement with leftwing politicians in general.

However little sympathy there is for Maduro, that does not equate to support for direct military action from the US in foreign territory. Many Colombians have fears that similar might happen to their country. While that seems unlikely, Donald Trump is at best unpredictable and few would have seen today’s actions coming a year ago.

Colombia is also likely to have strained relations with the incoming administration in Caracas. Petro and many on his side are no fans of Machado, who they see as a classic representative of the Latin rightwing oligarchy.

Petro will be wary of supporting the notion that presidents can be toppled in this manner and regime change forced upon a nation by foreign forces. At the least, he will call for free and fair elections to be held sooner rather than later.

Relations with the USA have significantly deteriorated, for obvious reasons, but Colombia is very much with international feeling on this one, with Trump the pariah. A number of world leaders have issued statements decrying and condemning the US actions. Only Machado, Netanyahu and Argentina’s Milei have departed from the consensus, unsurpisingly.

ELN held a short-lived paro armado in December warning against foreign interference in the region, so it’s entirely likely that they might announce similar measures in the next few weeks. It’s unclear how or if groups such as the gaitanistas may react, given that they were recently declared terrorist organisations by the US State department.

What happens next?

For Colombia, the three biggest fears for the future are the probability of refugees fleeing across the border; the possibility that similar will happen here; the effects on this year’s election. This might have been a relatively quick operation, but its effects will linger for months at bare minimum and likely years.

Venezuela itself will have to work out who is going to replace Maduro in the presidential Palacio Miraflores. That could well be recent Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, or could be a general stepping up to lead an interim government while elections are organised.

It could even be a continuation government, refusing to give in after the loss of Maduro and daring further strikes. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ruled out further actions for the time being now that Maduro has been captured.

The likelihood of large scale US actions within Colombian territory is very low, despite Trump’s rhetoric that Petro might be next in line. The country has just assumed a position on the UN security council and is a member of NATO. Having said all that, focused operations targeting terrorists are certainly possible and Trump is often hard to predict.

Even smaller, focused operations would be incredibly controversial within Colombia and Petro would be pushed to respond strongly, not only by his own supporters. However, his options are relatively limited. He does not have the firepower to make serious counterattacks and is unlikely to want to do so outside of Colombian territory, for example against carriers in international waters.

Any operation involving boots on the ground within Colombia would be a very different story and the military would be more or less forced to intervene. That would push tensions to boiling point with the White House.

Venezuelan immigrants to Colombia already number around two million or more and this action is likely to see increased travel across the borders. Colombia has sent troops to the border in order to attempt to maintain order. Cities such as Cúcuta in Norte de Santander and Riohacha in La Guajira are already under strain and will struggle to absorb further numbers.

It is entirely possible that serious criminal elements and/or government or armed fores members will try to cross within the chaos, putting added pressure on the Colombian government. They may be destabilising elements and there may be pressure from the US not to harbour who they see as essentially international criminals.

For the upcoming election, candidates are already in a difficult position on this topic and things are likely to get harder. Rightwingers have spent years railing against the Venezuelan regime, but will be aware that most Colombians oppose this action.

The added complication is the possibility of Trump supporting one side or another, even making remarks like he did before the Guatemalan election or even offering financial support as he did in the Argentinian elections.

That will be tricky – being on Trump’s side will alienate enough voters to make victory unachievable, yet coming into office in conflict with the leader of the USA will make governing difficult. Candidates have a fine line to walk in terms of balancing electoral rhetoric with diplomacy.

Then there’s the question of who is in the Palacio Miraflores in Caracas. Hard leftwingers will start off on a bad footing with a Machado government or similar, whereas rightwingers will chime with her politically. If there is a sort of continuity, expect the opposite.

Given the surprise, if not shock, of this morning’s actions, it is hard to predict exactly what will happen next, other than there will be short term chaos at least. Trump, of course, thrives on chaos and has a gift for navigating uncertain times. He described this as a “brilliant operation” but few in the region will be in agreement. After all, he is not the one who has to live with the consequences.

The post US strikes in Venezuela: what does it mean for Colombia and what happens next? appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

As the year winds to an end, the Bogotá Post looks back at 2025 in Colombia

2025 might well be looked back upon in years to come as the calm before the storm. An early sign of the potentially troubled waters ahead was the assassination of Senator Miguel Uribe in early June. Other themes included friction with the US, political deadlock and a sense that much is being put off for next year.

Relations with the USA started badly after Trump was sworn in, as he deported Colombian immigrants in chains on military planes. Petro at first refused to receive the flights, before relenting and allowing them to land but greeting the travellers and treating them with dignity.

From there it got worse, with Petro turning up on the New York streets protesting while on a visit to the UN. Trump in turn has no love for Petro, calling him a bad guy and putting him and his family on the Clinton List, alongside highly controversial longtime advisor Armando Benedetti. It also emerged at that point that Petro had separated from Veronica Alcocer some time ago.

After the US started bombing alleged narco ships in international waters in the Caribbean, things took an even darker turn. Petro, like most world leaders, was highly critical of US operations in the Caribbean, leading Trump to warn that “he could be next”.

Bogotá herself kept on with business as usual, although that’s not always a good sign. Mayor Gálan has little to show at the mid point of his time in the Palacio Liévano. Crime and rubbish are the most visible signs of a city that sometimes feels stuck in place, although the Metro seems to be on track.

Away from the febrile world of Colombian politics, there was plenty going on in cultural fields, from an impressive Copa América run by the superpoderosas to possibly the best festival Cordillera yet in Bogotá.

Violence mars the start of 2026 campaigning

Senator Miguel Uribe was assassinated at the start of his electoral bid in a worrrying reminder of what can happen in Colombian politics. The politician was shot a number of times in the head while making a visit to Modelia and put into intensive care for a month before passing.

One shooter, just 15 years of age was shot and captured at the scene by Uribe’s protection. Other suspects and accomplices were relatively quickly captured, although the intellectual author of the crime remains unclear. While social networks have been hothouses of rumours and propaganda, candidates have thankfully so far stayed largely clear of commenting.  

Runners and riders for the presidency have emerged and started the process of thinning the field. The Liberales, Conservadores and Cambio Radical are yet to declare their representatives. However, there are still six candidates for political parties and another 14 who have acquired the requisite 635,000 signatures to run as independents.

Among the latter names there are some big names such as Claudia López, Luis Murillo, Abelardo de Espriella and Vicky Dávila. There’s also a number of seeming no-hopers, but remember that was Rodolfo Hérnandez this time last year and he got to the second round as a semi-protest candidate.

Iván Cepeda is Petro’s successor candidate for Pacto Historico, while the Centro Democrático have plumped for Paloma Valencia. Sergio Fajardo is back in the race again, for Dignidad y Compromiso. That means no place for some high profile heavyweights such as Maria Fernanda Cabal, Susana Muhamed and Gustavo Bolívar.

High-profile roadblocks, change by the back door

One of the constants in Colombian politics in 2025 was that major reforms and were blocked and delayed, yet a few things were snuck in through alternative measures. This was exemplified by Petro declaring economic emergency in a constitutionally dubious manner.

The reforma de salud was sunk again in the springtime, but by mid-year MinSalud had gone ahead with some of the changes anyway. This may well be reversed by an incoming government next year, meaning that EPSs remain somewhat in limbo.

Cómo así que no hay que castigar alcohol cuando más se tiene alcohol en la mercancía, ¿no sabe que es la droga que más produce muerte y daños en los sistemas presupuestales de salud? Menos alcohol en las personas y la sociedad es productivo y beneficioso para la vida. Aquí no se… https://t.co/GFbT4Wx0k5

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) December 31, 2025

Major budget changes are unlikely to get through under anyone, so failing to get this done can’t really be laid at Petro’s door. However, he’s gone ahead with what he can do: enormous hikes in the minimum salary, IVA abolished on certain items, demanding that pension funds divest from foreign investments and repatriate their savings.

Paz Total is looking more and more like Fracaso Total as time ticks on. At best, talks with various groups are going nowhere, while other talks have essentially collapsed. Trump declaring the Gaitanistas a terrorist group has muddied the waters even further. The ELN, Colombia’s largest remaining guerilla force, in particular have intensified operations.

While some of that has underlined the difference between their rhetoric and reality, with December’s paro nacional affecting little of the country, other attacks have been bloody and worrying, with the increased use of drones a dangerous direction of travel.

Economic uncertainty?

Whether the economy is doing well or not and whether that is because or in spite of the government will depend mainly on your fellings towards Petro. It’s a mixed bag with plenty of caveats on both sides. GDP growth has been good and ahead of expectation, with unemployment continuing to fall and inflation slowing. Those new jobs are largely formal, too.  

However, the GDP growth isn’t as fast as it could be, while it’s outperforming regionally, it’s behind the global average. Unemployment is at a low point for the century, but is still mainly informal and the rate of decrease is slowing. It’s hard to guess how the recently announced minimum wage hike to COP$2,000,000 will affect this.

Much more worrying is that much of this may be built on sand. While Petro has struggled to get big-ticket bills through the legislature, he’s quietly done things behind the scenes that have ramped up public spending. He’s betting on that being an investment which will keep delivering in the long run. If not, it will be an albatross for future governments.

Inflation remains at 5.3% annually, not calamitous, but stubbornly high. The cost of living, too, is ever-increasing, not helped by uncertainty in global trade routes. Despite all that wind and bluster between Trump and Petro, tariffs remain at the standard 10% for the time being.

Petro finally got his reforma laboral over the line, in some ways a major achievement considering the opposition it faced in the Senate. However, the text of the bill is somewhat underwhelming. For the main part, there are minor changes such as a cap on overtime and night shifts starting two hours earlier as well as solidifying full time contracts as the norm.

The most substantial change is a commitment to make online providers such as Rappi pay social security and workplace risk contributions for their workers. This may find the devil is in the details in terms of bringing it into reality.

Colombia also brought the Bre-B system of instant payments online. This is already having a huge impact in a country where digital payments are widespread and popular. Long term, this provides a base for increasing transparancy and reducing corruption. However, questions remain over the infrastructure underpinning these systems.

Transport no longer stuck in a jam

The really big local news has been that the Metro is progressing as planned. This might not seem like big news, but given how long the project spent in planning and the tendency of the president to stick his beak in, it’s just good to see something being done.

The first trains have arrived in the country and are running tests while the towering columns of the track are in place all over the city. Today, that means pain as Transmi stations close and traffic is rerouted, but all is in place for a fully integrated public transport system in the future.

RegioTram is also more or less on schedule, although it will need to be reworked to connect with the Bogotá systems, after it was pointed out that the planned stations are a fair distance away from the trnasmi and Metro. Regardless, connecting satellite towns with the capital is a gamechanging proposal.

Life in the city remains irritating due to continued high crime levels and the seeming refusal of Carlos Fernando Galán to do anything about rubbish on the streets. The best that can be said about Gálan at this point is that he has done little of note, hardly a glowing resumé, given his ambitions coming into office.

Culture vultures

The capital saw a celebration of Latino music as Festival Cordillera 2025 confirmed the event’s stature as a lodestone of music in Colombia. With Festival Estéreo Picnic 2025 providing a balance that focuses on anglophone music, the capital is well set. However, with both those festivals in the Parque Bolívar, Rock al Parque is struggling to stay relevant.

Plenty of other bands were touring throughout the year too, with Bogotá increasingly on the map for big-name world superstars. That means enduring the likes of Guns N’ Roses, but also means that rolos can see contemporary stars like Dua Lipa.

Former busker Ed Sheeran popped up on stage as a surprise guest of J Balvin in December, while another Brit unsurprisingly failed to turn up because that’s what Morrissey does these days. Latinos across Instagram responded by trolling the famous vegetarian with meat recipes.

Elsewhere online, Colombian food performed well on a host of dubious internet polls, sparkign waves of reposted joy throughout the year. In more dispiriting news, Club Colombia Negra was discontinued by Bavaria, meaning you have few chances to neck the country’s last widely available dark lager.

For those more interested in staying home, Colombia’s first ever board games convention took place in November. Ludotopia was an undisputed success, attracting the likes of Wingspan artist Ana Maria Martínez (who teased the upcoming expansion for Wingspan South America, Central America and Caribbean) and proving that Bogotá retains a dynamic and evolving cultural scene.

Colombia fall just short again

The women’s football team came into the Copa América on good form and were within seconds of taking the title. With two minutes of regular time to go, Mayra Ramírez put Colombia ahead for the third and seemingly last time at 3:2. Brazilian superstar supersub Marta, in her last tournament, broke Colombian hearts as she rolled back the years with a last gasp equalizer in the sixth minute of injury time.

The drama wasn’t over, as she then put Brazil in front for the first time in extra time before Leicy Santos equalized and took the game to penalties. There, the game slipped through the fingers of the superpoderosas as perma-champions Brazil showed their experience. They took the shoot out 5:4 for their 9th title in ten Copa Américas.

The men’s team, also runners up in their Copa América, ground their way to qualification for next year’s World Cup in North America. Conmebol was a slogfest this time around, with everyone except Argentina involved in taking points off each other and goals in short supply.

Eventually, Colombia found form, only losing a single game in the year and finishing with a goalfest against Venezuela, beating their fierce rivals 6-3 in the last game. That leaves Colombia 13th in the FIFA rankings – unlucky for some maybe, but not coach Nestor Lorenzo.

On the local stage, Santa Fe reclaimed the liga apertura for Bogotá, triumphing in Medellín over Independiente thanks to an inspired performance from Wigan legend Hugo Rodellega. Knocking out Millos and El Tigre Falcao on the way made it even sweeter. Junior of Barranquilla took the finalizácion, with Nacional winning the Copa Colombia. The latter was a Medellín derby and marred by a pitch invasion and violence at the end.

Cricket Colombia hit a six as MinDeportes officially recognised the gentleman’s game as a sport in the country. This opens up the field for more funding and support for events. They also welcomed a visiting team from Trinidad and Tobago as well as setting a T20 record for a last wicket chase in the Gulf Series against México.

What’s coming next?

Next year promises much more drama in Colombia, with national elections set to be hard-fought. This is an unusual cycle, as the country is preparing to see who will succeed a leftist president. Whether there will be continuity, a sharp tack rightwards or a drive for the centre is still anyone’s guess.

The lineups for the capital’s big music festivals seem strong, with a supporting cast of superstars also set to tour. The men’s football team have a relatively straightforward group in the World Cup and will fancy themselves to do well.

Our predictions for 2026 will be coming in the next few days, but whatever comes to pass, we’ll be here to keep you in the loop with what’s happening in Colombia and why. We got some of the 2025 calls right, after all. right Happy new year from the Bogotá Post – your English voice in Colombia!

The post That was the year that was: Colombia 2025 appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

An extraordinary leap of 23.78% in the Colombian minimum salary per month brings it to a symbolic COP$2,000,000

An unprecedented hike in the Colombian minimum salary for 2026 was announced on Monday 29 December, bringing the rate to two million pesos per month. That represents an increase of 23.78% on the 2025 number. That’s the biggest jump ever – only 1997 comes close in recent years with 21.02%.

The minimum salary itself (SMMLV or Salario Mínimo Mensual Legal Vigente) has gone up to COP$1,750,905. There is also a transport subsidy (COP$249,095) which brings the effective minimum salary in Colombia for 2026 to two million on the nose.

Business leaders had suggested a rise of around 7.21%, keeping it above annual inflation (5.3% as of November), while trade unions and syndicates had called for an optimistic 16%. Both were left in the dust by Petro’s extraordinary decision.

The extraordinary rise is not due directly to inflation, nor to the rising cost of living, but represents a fundamental change in the rationale behind the number. Colombian president Gustavo Petro explained that the minimum salary should be considered a household income, not individual. He calls this salario vital, or salario digno.

Whether the household basis for the minimum salary holds up to scrutiny is hard to say. It certainly was the case, but like most other middle-income countries Colombia is rapidly changing. The idea of a single income supporting a family is less true every year, with Colombian households under 3.5 people on average and with 1.5 workers. That means a true dependency ratio of nearly one to one.

It was calculated by working around the price of a basket of goods for the average family (canasta básica), logged at nearly 3 million pesos for four people. Using that number of 1.5 workers gave the convenient round number of two million.

The minimum salary (not including the transport subsidy) is the baseline number that in turn influences a whole lot of other values in Colombia, such as fines and public salaries which are counted as multiples of the SMMLV. That includes, happily for Congress, politicians’ pay.

What does the increase in the Colombian minimum salary mean for the economy?

Far harder to work out is the long term impact of this rise in the Colombian minimum salary. Petro claims it will further stoke private spending in the country as the increased wages percolate throughout the economy and allow continued growth.

https://twitter.com/MintrabajoCol/status/2005795577548923288

It will increase labour costs for a number of businesses, especially small companies, some of which will struggle to keep their heads above water with such a sudden rise in payroll. For medium and larger size businesses, this includes mandatory SENA apprentices.

Note that payroll costs for employers will increase by more than the 23.78% headline figure, as they have to make social security payments based on an employee’s wage as well as the wage itself.

Massive firms who are liquid enough to be able to absorb costs will likely be absolutely fine, even if there are a couple of high-profile exceptions. Companies that are dodging the system, either through informal working or false self-employment, will also likely thrive.

Of course, the new reforma laboral promises to regularise and/or eliminate such practices. On paper, that is. In reality, these are the potential counterintuitive effects that could be the legacy of this increase in the Colombian minimum salary.

Colombia saw a sharp downtick in the number of employees on minimum salary this year, while informal work and self-employment has risen to around 55% of the workforce. This trend could continue much more rapidly with companies unwilling to pay the high new Colombian minimum salary.

A further issue is how close the minimum salary is now to the average. This will particularly affect smaller businesses and recent graduates. The former will find it hard to offer salaries that are significantly above minimum to attract quality employees, while the latter will find themselves often close to minimum salary and waiting longer for a return on their studies.

It is worth remembering that both minimum salaries themselves and increases to them are often bitterly opposed the world over and predictions of chaos are frequently sown. In most cases there is short term turbulence followed by long term stability. 

Is this a political power play?

Despite Petro’s official line about household incomes, many will see this as a nakedly political move ahead of next year’s elections. It certainly will play well among the Colombia Humana base and potential voters as a reason to keep faith with the left and cast their vote accordingly next year. 

A more charitable view would be to say that it’s one of the last significant acts that Petro can take before leaving office, so he’s gone big to deliver an achievement. Those have been in short supply over his time in the Palacio Nariño.

What’s undoubtable is that this creates a massive headache for next year. Regardless of who takes power, they won’t be expected to deliver quite such a large rise. However, they will have to be careful how far they go below it.

Any successor to Petro will at least be able to say their allies prepared the ground and maybe get away with a modest increase. An incoming fiscal conservative will be under pressure to deliver another big increase against their natural instincts and take heat for not doing so, while actually cutting the rate would be close to political suicide.

While a lot of candidates in the 2026 election might say that this was a fiscally imprudent move, they will have to be careful how far they push it. Many in Colombia will agree with them, but those same people are also likely benefiting from the increase. 

There are also the optics of a rich politician arguing against the very many voters who are on minimum wage or even those who aspire to earn minimum wage. It’s not a good look to argue against giving stuff to the people whose vote you want.

Short term gains, but long term problems?

So in the end this is a huge play from Petro, which has won him a useful political victory for today. It backs up his rhetoric, as he can easily claim he’s acting on behalf of the workers. There’s plenty of truth in that, as many Colombians work on minimum wage.

It may be a bribe to the electorate, but many will claim that no one else has at least offered them anything like this ever before, so good on him. Going into the 2026 election candidates on Petro’s side will be able to point to this achievement, while opposition candidates face pressure to offer at least something similar or be painted as rich folk denying the poor.

It’s hard to see a short term in which we won’t see a lot of businesses go bankrupt. The longer term is harder to read, as most companies will be unhappy but able to keep going. The effect on public salaries is potentially alarming with the state already running a deficit, unable to achieve fiscal reform and still expanding.

Ironically, it’s entirely possible that the increase in the Colombian minimum salary for 2026 might lead to more informality and less dynamism in the economy. However, it’s also completely believable that the economy is resilient enough to handle it with ease. This may be Petro’s biggest gamble yet and even he doesn’t know how it’ll play out. 

The post Colombian minimum salary rockets appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Things were busy in Apple software land this week, with the public release of iOS 26.1 and updates for Apple's other platforms being quickly followed by the round of 26.2 betas with plenty more changes in store.


On the hardware side, we're still wondering whether we'll see anything more released before the end of the year, but either way, 2026 is shipping up to be a big year for Apple with updates across almost the entire lineup and likely some new entrants as well.

Top Stories

Everything New in iOS 26.1

Some six weeks after the initial release of iOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and other major operating system updates, Apple this week released the first significant follow-on updates with the 26.1 versions.


iOS 26.1 adds a new toggle to adjust the transparency of Liquid Glass, an option to turn off the Lock Screen swipe gesture to access the Camera, a new "slide to stop" button on the Lock Screen for alarms and timers to reduce accidental dismissals, new Apple Intelligence language support, and more.

Everything New in iOS 26.2 Beta 1

As is frequently the case, the public release of iOS 26.1 was almost immediately followed by the first developer beta of iOS 26.2 as Apple begins testing the next update ahead of an expected December release.


Changes discovered in the first beta so far include a Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen clock, updates to the Sleep Score feature, the ability to set alarms for reminders, and more. EU users will get access to Live Translation on AirPods with the update, though they will lose automatic Wi-Fi network syncing between iPhone and Apple Watch.

Report: Apple to Launch These New Products in 2026

Apple is gearing up to release at least 15 new products in 2026, according to a new recap from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, and it is likely to include a long-awaited revamp of the company's smart home platform.


It's possible we could even get a few more updates to products like the Apple TV and HomePod mini before the end of 2025, but if you're waiting for additional new Macs, you're almost certainly going to need to wait until next year.

Leaker Outlines Potential New Colors for iPhone 18 Pro

Apple's iPhone 18 Pro models could be available in a new rich and warm color option, according to a known leaker.


The Weibo user known as "Instant Digital" has claimed that next-year's ‌iPhone 18‌ Pro models will be available in one of the following color options: coffee, purple, or burgundy. Despite some initial media confusion thinking Apple might release all three of the rumored colors, the leaker later clarified that Apple is currently still in the decision phase will only move forward with production on one of them.

New Version of Siri to 'Lean' on Google Gemini

The new, more powerful version of Siri reportedly coming around March or April of next year will apparently leverage a custom version of Google Gemini as Apple continues to try to catch up to the competition with its own AI capabilities.


Apple will reportedly pay Google in the neighborhood of $1 billion annually for a 1.2-trillion parameter AI model to power Siri.

The Best Early Black Friday Apple Deals

It's already November, which means the holiday shopping season is getting underway ahead of the Black Friday rush later this month.


We're keeping tabs on the best early Black Friday deals on Apple products, while retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Samsung have been sharing their early sales and plans for the rest of the month.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!
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After a flurry of Apple releases in September in October, the calendar has now turned to November, but that doesn't necessarily mean Apple is done making news for 2025.


Beyond those nearer-term software and hardware update expectations, this week saw fresh rumors about the iPhone 18 lineup, several future Mac and iPad models, and more, so read on below for all the details!

Top Stories

Apple Seeds iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1 Release Candidates

The public releases of iOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, and related updates appear to be right around the corner, with Apple seeding release candidate versions of all of the updates this week.


iOS 26.1 brings several new features and changes, including a toggle to adjust the opaqueness of the new Liquid Glass design. We took a look at whether using the Clear or Tinted design, as well as trying several other accessibility adjustments that can affect the Liquid Glass look, has any impact on battery life, but didn't find anything significant.

iPhone 18 Pro Rumored to Support Full 5G Satellite Internet

While Apple has been gradually building out satellite-related features for its lineup of iPhone and more recently Apple Watch models, all of the features have so far been limited to low-bandwidth applications like messaging.


That may change next year, however, with a new report claiming that Apple is working on adding support for full 5G satellite internet access as soon as next year in the iPhone 18 Pro models.

In other iPhone 18 rumors this week, we heard about potential for a simpler Camera Control design in next year's phones, as well as a DSLR-style variable aperture for the Main camera on iPhone 18 Pro models. The base iPhone 18 may also see a 50% bump in memory to 12GB, matching the higher-end models.

Apple TV 4K Could Still Launch Before 2025 Ends: All the Rumored Features

Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box.


We've rounded up all the latest ‌Apple TV‌ rumors in a recent article and accompanying video, so be sure to check it out for an overview of everything we may see in the forthcoming update.

Apple Reportedly Moving Ahead With Ads in Maps App

Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.


In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in search.

Apple Expanding OLED Displays to iPad Mini, iPad Air, and MacBook Models

We've known for some time that Apple has been working to bring OLED displays to the MacBook Pro, but a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reveals Apple's OLED plans are much broader than that.


Gurman says the iPad mini will gain an OLED display as early as next year, while the iPad Air will be updated with OLED no sooner than 2027. The iPad Pro was updated with OLED last year.

On the Mac side, following the MacBook Pro in late 2026 or early 2027, the MacBook Air should also eventually be upgraded to OLED, but probably not until 2028 at the earliest.

M4 MacBook Air vs. M5 MacBook Pro Buyer's Guide

Apple has now refreshed both tiers of its MacBook lineup in 2025, first updating the MacBook Air with the M4 chip and just this month introducing the MacBook Pro with the new M5 chip, so how do the latest models compare?


While the 13- and 15-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ continue to start at $999 and $1,199 respectively, moving to the 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ requires spending at least $400 more. For some buyers, the extra cost is unnecessary; for others, the Pro's hardware advantages meaningfully change the experience in ways the Air cannot match even with higher configurations. Our latest guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two popular laptops is best for you.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!
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The calendar has flipped over to October, but that doesn't mean Apple is done with product launches for 2025. We're still expecting updates to several product lines, and Apple has a history of making announcements in October so we'll be keeping a lookout for news.


Several of those upcoming products have already leaked thanks to Russian YouTubers and U.S. regulatory databases, although release timing remains a bit unclear. This week also saw the release of bug-fix updates for iOS and other platforms, while have had a bit more time for our thoughts on Apple's new iPhones to firm up, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more!

Top Stories

Apple Event in October? Here's What to Expect

Apple's annual iPhone event is in the rear-view mirror, but rumors suggest the company plans to release at least a handful of additional products before the year ends.


Will there be another Apple event this October, or will we see a string of press releases to introduce the new products? Check out our look at Apple's recent October announcement history and our overview of what's rumored to be launching soon.

New iPad Pro With M5 Chip Leaked in Unboxing Video

Russian YouTube channel Wyslacom appears to have done it again. A year after leaking the M4 MacBook Pro with an unboxing video, they've repeated the feat with the upcoming M5 iPad Pro.


While the device looks essentially identical to the current model, it does mark the premiere of the M5 chip, and the video includes some good benchmarks of the new chip.

FCC Leaks Upcoming MacBook Pro and More

The United States Federal Communications Commission has inadvertently confirmed several upcoming releases from Apple, including a new MacBook Pro that is likely an M5-based model expected later this year or early next year.


The documents also confirm several new iPads that are likely to be the M5 iPad Pro, and a new Vision Pro that has been previously rumored to be coming with a chip bump was also revealed.

Apple Releases iOS 26.0.1 With Fixes for Wi-Fi, Cellular, and Camera Issues on iPhone 17 Models

Apple this week pushed out an iOS 26.0.1 update to address several bugs from the initial iOS 26 release and the new iPhone hardware, including Wi-Fi/Bluetooth and Camera issues on the new iPhones, cellular network issues, app icon tinting problems, and more.


Apple also released macOS Tahoe 26.0.1 to address an issue with M3 Ultra Mac Studio machines being unable to update to macOS Tahoe, as well as minor watchOS 26.0.2, visionOS 26.0.1, and tvOS 26.0.1 updates.

Review: A Week With the iPhone 17 Pro

We've now had a chance to spend some extended time with Apple's latest phones, and MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera has put together his thoughts on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, as well as the ultra-thin iPhone Air.


The Pro models are showing impressive battery life gains and thermal improvements, while the upgraded front-facing camera delivers nice quality improvements for selfies. The upgraded Telephoto lens is also a welcome addition, and he's yet to see any durability issues despite some early concerns over scratches seen on demo units.

The iPhone Air is a dream to hold, and its titanium frame is beautiful and strong, but there's no hiding that the device comes with some compromises like shorter battery life and only a single rear camera.

LG UltraFine 6K (32U990A) TB5 Display: Pre-Orders Now Available

Back in January at CES, LG announced what it said is the first 6K display to support Thunderbolt 5, and it is now available for pre-order from retailers like B&H Photo. The display will run you $2,000, but if you think of it as an alternative to Apple's $5,000+ Pro Display XDR, that pricing starts to look a lot better.


You'll get a 6,144 x 3,456 display with daisy-chain support, 96-watt power delivery for a connected laptop, and tilt, pivot, height, and rotation adjustments, as well as DisplayPort and HDMI inputs alongside Thunderbolt 5.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!
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