When One Hundred Years of Solitude author Gabriel García Márquez accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm in 1982, Colombia arrived with him — not only in prose, but in rhythm, drumbeat and dance.

Among the delegation of more than 200 Colombian musicians and artists who traveled to Sweden was a barefoot singer from the banks of the Magdalena River whose voice would stop the banquet hall in its tracks. Her name was Sonia Bazanta Vides, though the world would come to know her simply as Totó La Momposina.

“It was as if everyone from Macondo had come down the staircase of Stockholm City Hall,” The City Paper wrote in a 2016 profile titled Colombia’s Queen of Cumbia. Totó, wrapped in the musical traditions of Colombia’s Caribbean interior, danced across the marble floors singing cumbia and bullerengue before royalty and diplomats.

After the performance, she recalled, a palace official approached with a message from the Queen of Sweden: “Never stop singing.” And for more than six decades, she never did.

On Tuesday, Colombia awoke to the news that Totó La Momposina had died at age 85 in Mexico, where she had been living in recent years after retiring from music in 2022 due to declining health. Colombia’s Ministry of Culture confirmed her death, calling her “eterna Totó,” the eternal voice who elevated and transformed the traditional music of the Caribbean coast.

Her son, Marcio Vinicio, told Colombian media that the singer had spent recent months in palliative care. President Gustavo Petro described her as an “illustrious figure of Colombian Caribbean art and culture.” Opposition leader and presidential candidate Paloma Valencia highlighted that Totó la Momposina “took our music to the world and taught us to feel pride in what is ours. Her legacy is the nation’s heritage”.

Born in 1940 in Talaigua Nuevo, on the Magdalena River near Santa Cruz de Mompox, Totó emerged from a lineage where music was inherited as naturally as language itself. Her father was a shoemaker and drummer; her mother sang, danced and played the mandola. By age six, Totó was already performing onstage.

But it was the villages and wetlands of Colombia’s Caribbean coast that became her true conservatory.

As a teenager, she traveled from town to town absorbing rhythms born from the collision of African, Indigenous and Spanish traditions. She studied the cantadoras — women who sang while washing clothes in the river, grinding corn or tending cassava fields — and transformed those oral traditions into a musical language that would eventually reach audiences around the globe.

“The love for music is passed on through your genes,” she told The City Paper in 2016. “I never lost my sense of belonging.”

That belonging was rooted in Mompós, the island town from which her stage name derived. For centuries, the Magdalena River served as Colombia’s great cultural artery, carrying not only gold and commerce inland from the Caribbean coast, but rhythms: cumbia, mapalé, chalupa, porro and bullerengue.

Totó would become their most recognizable ambassador.

After her family fled violence during Colombia’s mid-century civil conflict and settled in Bogotá, her mother transformed their home into a sanctuary for Caribbean music. Musicians such as Lucho Bermúdez passed through the house, and Totó soon formed her own group in the 1960s, performing at neighborhood parties and on television.

In the 1980s, she moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne University, immersing herself in music history, choreography and stage production while singing in metro stations, restaurants and street corners throughout the French capital.

France would become a second home — and the launching pad for international recognition.

Her breakthrough arrived when Peter Gabriel heard her perform and invited her to record at his Real World studio near Bath, England. The resulting 1993 album, La Candela Viva, introduced global audiences to songs like El Pescador and cemented her place on the world music stage.

She would go on to perform across Europe, Latin America and the United States, reportedly appearing more than 300 times at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Her influence stretched far beyond folk music circles. Artists including Manu Chao and Timbaland sampled her work, while she lent vocals to Latinoamérica.

Though often called “The Queen of Cumbia” or “The Voice of Colombia,” Totó resisted celebrity detached from tradition. For her, the stage remained sacred. “The stage is a temple,” she told The City Paper. “You must respect it. I give my heart to the audience. It is a commitment.”

Even in her seventies, she continued performing with fierce energy, appearing at events tied to Colombia’s peace process and receiving honors including the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and France’s highest Order of Arts and Letters, the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres.

Her final public years coincided with a renewed appreciation among Colombians for their own musical roots — roots Totó had spent a lifetime defending.

In September 2022, she announced her retirement due to neurocognitive complications. Yet her songs endured as living memory: the voice of fishermen on the Magdalena, of Afro-Colombian drumming circles, of women singing beside the riverbanks of the Caribbean coast.

“The day that I cease to be nervous before going on stage, I will retire,” she once said. “Because at that point music will have become mechanical.”

For Totó La Momposina, music never became mechanical. It remained alive, ceremonial, ancestral — a fire carried across generations. And perhaps that is why the Queen of Sweden’s words still resonate today: Never stop singing.

Arajet seeks to become the dominant low-cost carrier connecting North & South America through its Caribbean hubs in the Dominican Republic.

Dominican airline Arajet has launched a “Hot Sale Colombia” promotion, offering discounted base fares for international travel originating from major Colombian hubs. The campaign targets passengers departing from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, José María Córdova International Airport in Medellín, and Rafael Núñez International Airport in Cartagena.

The promotional window is scheduled to run from March 16 through March 22, 2026. During this period, the airline is offering base fares starting at $1 USD. These rates apply to international routes within the carrier’s network and are available across all four of the airline’s service tiers: Basic, Classic, Comfort, and Extra.

Agressive fares through Q3 2026

According to the carrier, the travel window for tickets purchased under this promotion extends from April 15, 2026, to September 30, 2026. The availability of these fares is subject to seat capacity on specific flights. The initiative follows the carrier’s broader strategy to increase its market share in the Colombian aviation sector, which is regulated by the Unidad Administrativa Especial de Aeronáutica Civil (Aerocivil) under the Ministerio de Transporte.

Arajet commenced operations in September 2022 and currently maintains its primary hubs at Las Américas International Airport in Santo Domingo and Punta Cana International Airport. The airline utilizes an all-Boeing fleet, consisting of 14 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft (NYSE: BA). The carrier’s network connects the Dominican Republic with various destinations across North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. In 2023, the airline was recognized as the “Best New Airline in the World” at the CAPA Aviation Trust Summit. The airline’s operations are overseen by the Instituto Dominicano de Aviación Civil (IDAC) in its home jurisdiction. Detailed pricing and baggage policies for the current promotion are available through the company’s digital booking platform.

The Colombian government temporarily closed last week PNN Tayrona National Natural Park following threats against park staff and escalating violence between rival armed groups fighting for control of drug trafficking corridors along the Caribbean coast.

The shutdown, announced on Feb. 17 by Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, was described as a preventive measure to protect visitors, local communities and officials.

“The National Government announced the temporary closure of PNN Tayrona as a preventive measure to protect the lives and safety of visitors, communities, and officials, and to ensure their security,” the agency said in a statement.

Tayrona, located near the city of Santa Marta in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, is one of Colombia’s most visited protected areas, drawing as many as 750,000 visitors annually. Known for its white-sand beaches and dense tropical forest, the park is a pillar of the tourism economy in the Magdalena department.

The closure comes amid an intensifying turf war between the Conquering Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada (ACSN) and the Gaitanist Army of Colombia (EGC), better known as the Clan del Golfo, a criminal organization designated as a terrorist group by the United States.

Authorities say the immediate trigger for the crisis was a Feb. 11 operation to dismantle unauthorized constructions within the protected area, including houses, bathrooms and hiking trails built without state permission.

According to the parks agency, the demolitions prompted threats on social media directed at park personnel. Tensions escalated on Feb. 16 when local residents blocked employees from entering the park. Officials said individuals then began charging tourists for access and allowing entry without formal registration, effectively taking over certain administrative functions.

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

While the government has not formally attributed responsibility for the threats, the timing of the closure has drawn attention to the deteriorating security environment in northern Colombia. Recent confrontations between the Clan del Golfo and the ACSN in nearby municipalities, including Aracataca, have led to forced displacements and heightened fears about the stability of the region.

Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office has previously warned of the presence of both groups in and around Tayrona, citing risks ranging from extortion to sexual violence. The violence, analysts say, reflects a broader struggle for control over strategic drug trafficking corridors extending into the departments of Cesar and La Guajira.

Yet the official narrative has been complicated by contrasting statements from government negotiators engaged in talks with the ACSN.

Mauricio Silva, the government’s chief negotiator in a socio-legal dialogue with the ACSN, said the decision to close the park was driven largely by climatic and preventive considerations. While acknowledging the existence of security risks and territorial control by armed groups in parts of the Sierra Nevada, Silva said it would be inappropriate to assign criminal responsibility without completed judicial investigations.

“One thing is to recognize the delicate security situation in the territory, and another is to point to specific perpetrators without proof,” Silva said, underscoring the government’s cautious position amid ongoing negotiations.

Local tourism operators have also questioned the link between the closure and the armed conflict. Some community leaders argue that the dispute stems in part from longstanding grievances over how ticket revenues are managed. They contend that funds collected by the central government are not sufficiently reinvested in infrastructure and local development within the park and surrounding communities.

The crisis has exposed deeper tensions over who exercises effective authority in one of Colombia’s most emblematic tourist destinations. Indigenous communities, national authorities and armed groups all operate in the broader Sierra Nevada region, where state presence has historically been uneven.

Although tourists in Tayrona have generally been insulated from direct violence — with armed groups preferring to profit indirectly through extortion, drug trafficking and prostitution — the park’s closure has raised concerns that the conflict could increasingly disrupt legitimate economic activity.

For the department of Magdalena, where tourism  depends on Tayrona as key source of revenue, the shutdown represents both a security and economic setback. Hotel operators and tour agencies in Santa Marta have reported cancellations since the announcement, though officials have not provided a timeline for reopening.

The government has said the closure will remain in effect until minimum security conditions can be guaranteed. Meanwhile, the dispute underscores the fragile balance between conservation, tourism and public saefty in a region where armed actors continue to expand their territorial control.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has called on supporters to mobilise nationwide on Wednesday to defend “national sovereignty,” sharply escalating a diplomatic crisis with the United States after President Donald Trump said a U.S. military operation against Colombia “sounds good” to him.

The demonstrations are expected to take place in Bogotá’s Plaza de Bolívar, Parque Lourdes in the Chapinero locality, and outside the U.S. Embassy, with parallel protests planned in Medellín (Plaza Mayor), Cali (Plaza de Cayzedo), Bucaramanga (Plazoleta Cívica Luis Carlos Galán), Cartagena (Plaza de San Pedro Claver), Santa Marta (Parque de Bolívar).

The mobilisation follows Trump’s remarks aboard Air Force One on Sunday, when he described Petro as “a sick man” and appeared to endorse the idea of a U.S. military operation in Colombia — dubbed “Operation Colombia” by a journalist — comparable in scope to the operation that led to the arrest of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and wife, Cilia Flores.

When pressed on whether he meant direct military action, Trump replied: “Sounds good to me,” before adding that Petro should “watch his ass.” The White House has not clarified whether the comments reflect official U.S. policy.

A Return to Arms?

Petro responded with a torrent of social media posts and public statements that have alarmed political opponents and business leaders . In some of his strongest language since taking office, the leftist president warned that U.S. military action would plunge Colombia back into armed conflict.

“If you bomb peasants, thousands of guerrillas will return to the mountains,” Petro said. “And if you arrest the president whom a good part of my people want and respect, you will unleash the popular jaguar.”

Petro, Colombia’s first leftist leader and a former militant of the M-19 guerrilla, said he had sworn under the 1989 peace pact never to take up arms again, but suggested that commitment could be reversed if Colombia’s sovereignty were threatened.

“Although I have not been a military man, I know war and clandestinity,” Petro wrote. “I swore not to touch a weapon again since the 1989 Peace Pact, but for the homeland I will take up arms again — even though I do not want to.”

He also warned Colombia’s armed forces against showing loyalty to Washington, saying any commander who prioritised U.S. interests over Colombia’s would be dismissed. The constitution, he said, required the military to defend “popular sovereignty.”

Diplomatic protest lodged in Washington

Colombia’s Foreign Ministry formally raised the dispute on January 4, issuing a diplomatic note of protest to the U.S. government through Ambassador Daniel García-Peña in Washington.

In the letter, the ministry said Trump’s remarks violated basic principles governing relations between sovereign states and amounted to “undue interference” in Colombia’s internal affairs.

“The President of the Republic of Colombia has been legitimately elected by the sovereign will of the Colombian people,” the statement said, adding that any attempt to discredit him was incompatible with international law and the United Nations Charter.

The Cancillería also cited principles of sovereign equality, non-intervention and mutual respect, saying threats or the use of force between states were “unacceptable.”

“Colombia is a democratic, sovereign state that conducts its foreign policy autonomously,” it said. “Its sovereignty, institutional legitimacy and political independence are not subject to external conditioning.”

The crisis has further polarised Colombia’s already fractured political landscape. Former president Álvaro Uribe, a vocal critic of Petro, said Colombia was drifting toward a Venezuela-style confrontation with the United States, though he stopped short of endorsing military intervention.

“What Colombia needs is a change of government,” Uribe told El Tiempo, adding that he trusted Washington’s strategy was “well conceived.”

Petro has cast Wednesday’s demonstrations as a defining moment for his presidency, portraying himself as the defender of national dignity against foreign aggression. He also reiterated the Colombian goverment’s position to cooperate fully with Washington on counter-narcotics and security issues. “You (Trump) took it upon yourself, in an act of arrogance, to punish my opinion — my words against the Palestinian genocide. Your punishment has been to falsely label me a drug trafficker and accuse me of running cocaine factories,” stated Petro hours after the Air Force One declations. “I don’t know whether Maduro is good or bad, or even whether he is a drug trafficker (…) so, stop the slander against me,” he said.

Petro’s critics accuse the president of instrumentalising public rallies to divert attention from Colombia’s deep internal security crisis, and to position himself politically alongside Venezuela’s ousted strongman. They argue that his language of “sovereignty” closely mirrors chavista narratives, warning that the protests risk morphing into an implicit show of solidarity with Nicolás Maduro rather than a defence of Colombia’s territorial integrity.

The White House has not walked back Trump’s remarks, and U.S. officials have so far declined to offer reassurances. On Wednesday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth held a classified briefing with senators on Capitol Hill in which, according to Democratic leaders, their Republican counterparts refused to rule out sending U.S. troops to Venezuela or other countries.

Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said he had asked for assurances that Washington was not planning operations elsewhere. “I mentioned some cases — including Colombia and Cuba — and I was very disappointed with their response,” Schumer said, adding that the meeting “left more questions than answers” and that the plan for the United States to govern Venezuela was “vague and based on illusions.”

As governments across Latin America closely watch the incoming chavista regime under interim president Delcy Rodríguez, the confrontation between Trump and Petro marks the most serious rupture in U.S.–Colombia relations in over two centuries. For Bogotá — long one of Washington’s closest allies in the region — the escalation has raised fears that incendiary rhetoric and mass mobilisation could push an already volatile situation into dangerous territory.

Editor’s Note: The U.S Embassy in Bogotá has issued a security alert, warning U.S. citizens to avoid large protests “as they have the potential to turn violent”.