This morning provided the first sign of how Colombia-USA relations may look over the coming years. President Gustavo Petro tweeted that he would deny permission for flights from the USA carrying repatriated Colombian migrants. His counterpart in the USA responded with extraordinarily tough measures.

In a series of tweets, Petro said “The United States cannot treat Colombian migrants like delinquents” and that he had “denied the entrance of North American planes with Colombian migrants onto our territory.”

Two military planes with Colombian citizens on board were turned back under his instructions and denied permission to land. Petro has long been at odds with the USA over migrant issues and as Colombia’s first real leftist president is firmly pro-migration. However, he’s also given to big statements which promise much and deliver little.

In recent months, Colombian migrants have come under increasing scrutiny. The UK revoked visa-free access for Colombians at short notice in November and Germany is openly considering following suit. Both blamed a marked increase in spurious asylum claims and ex-canciller Murillo took a frustrated but understanding line on both.

New Colombian canciller Laura Sanabria is in at the deep end on this one, having only been appointed to the role this month. She has an unusually excellent relationship with Petro, who has defended her through thick and thin and appointed her to a bevy of roles in both his political machine and administration.

However, this is a tricky situation  – Petro likes being involved in international relations and is more than happy to overshadow his canciller on big issues. This will test the bond between the two politicians more than anything yet has. On the UK visa situation, Murillo tried to negotiate while Petro threatened retaliatory measures.

On the other side of the table, it’s even harder to take a guess as to what precisely Trump is thinking. His campaign was heavy on rhetoric over illegal migrants but he has a tendency to say things he doesn’t follow through on. Tariffs are his new favourite thing, so he’s immediately put a 25% tariff on all Colombian imports, rising to 50% next week.

On top of that, he’s threatening to revoke official Colombian visas, frozen applications from within Colombia and called for heightened checks on Colombian nationals entering the USA. Not only will those revocations hit officials, but all “allies and supporters” of the government.

In the short term, he’s signed orders to reverse some of the Biden administration’s policies and encouraged raids by US border force ICE in his first week in the White House. This is his first chance to show if he’ll really be as tough as he talks and he’s backing up words with actions. 

How will this look in reality?

While the intention of both the Trump and Petro administration is clear, the nuts and bolts of it are much more complicated. We have the first sign of Trump’s line – those tariffs will hurt fast. Petro is standing up for Latin America in general, but Colombia has a far weaker hand than some other countries and he’s much the smaller dog in this fight.

It’s not clear what dignified treatment actually means in practice. Petro hasn’t defined it, meaning he has plenty of wriggle room to allow him to climb down. That may be key – taking on this fight will cost him both economic and political capital. For the moment, Colombia’s presidential plane has been offered as an alternative to military flights.

Given that both presidents like to give rambling, grandiose monologues that lead to little being done, it’s entirely possible that this is simple chest-thumping and rhetorical appeal to their respective bases, but those tariffs are real and will hit business. 

Trump can be bullish about things and has little reason to back down if he genuinely cares about this. It’s less about Colombia and more about playing to his established MAGA base. That would likely mean a slew of migrants being imprisoned in the US, where they are unlikely to receive particularly dignified treatment.

Colombia is very far down Trump’s list of priorities and he will be well aware that he holds most of the cards in this dispute. US trade with Colombia is worth far more to Bogotá than Washington and there are more Colombians there than US citizens here.

Colombia is one of the very few Latin countries that still counts the USA as its number one trading partner. However, that’s mainly in Colombia’s favour. While the country still accounts for a big proportion of oil arriving in the States, America can source it from elsewhere. Meanwhile, that oil is the base of the Colombian economy. 

Then of course, there’s aid, military collaboration and an enormous number of dual nationals and Colombians sending remittances from the US. All of those people will be caught up in the middle of this battle of egos between two bombastic presidents.

An aspect of this that is perhaps more relevant to foreign residents in Colombia is that Petro has already highlighted that the number of US citizens in Colombia with irregular statuses is over 15,000. There is widespread irritation with this among Colombians, especially in Medellín, where digital nomads and others have pushed up property prices, rental and real estate. Petro says they may be deported.

This may all simply be a war of words, but what is undeniable is that at least for a few months there will be a lot of ordinary people affected by this. Whether that’s Colombian migrants being forced to undergo humiliating treatment, harrassment at airports, economic difficulties or deported US citizens, this won’t be easy for anyone.

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The UK government abruptly decided yesterday to revoke visa-free entry to Colombian nationals, plunging many into chaos ahead of the festive season. Although there is a short grace period, this will affect the plans of many travellers.

The UK government places the blame for the situation on abuse of the system, with Ambassador George Hodgson saying it was sad but necessary for all countries, including the UK, to protect their borders. Colombia’s ambassador to the UK Roy Barreras agreed, saying “A minority of compatriots, as we have warned for months, abused the easiness of travelling without visas.”

He pulled no punches, going on to say “They have let the majority down with this irregular practice of claiming asylum with fake documents that have shot up with thousands of claims.” Many Colombians are furious at this minority that have caused this situation, but others pin the blame on the UK.

President Gustavo Petro went that way, threatening to impose retaliatory requirements for Boxing Day unless the UK reconsiders. There remains a significant sore feeling at the way people are treated outside of the country and decisions like the UK’s do nothing to improve the country’s reputation. The timing of the notice hardly helps, either.

It is extraordinary, with the holiday season seeing many people travel to visit family, many of whom will do so in between Christmas and New Year. There is now likely to be a sudden scramble for applications, with those on prebooked flights arriving after the deadline all needing visas.

How fast can you get the UK visa?

With the estimated processing time for a visa given as 3 weeks, there will be many in the country facing unnecessary stress. Add to those three weeks the time needed to obtain and officially translate documents, make appointments for the biometrics and possibly travel to another city and you can see it’s a big ask for anyone to get the visa within the given window.

Luckily, you can speed the process up by paying for speedy resolution. That comes at the bargain price of £500 on top of the £115 for the visa itself. Or to put it another way, not far off the price of an air ticket between Colombia and Europe. The visa offices in Cali and Medellín are open once fortnightly and weekly, respectively, with only Bogotá open five days a week.

Barreras said that those with pre-existing tickets will not be affected, but that’s a bit misleading. According to the country’s Foreign Office, those who have bought and paid for tickets prior to today (November 26th) will still be able to enter visa-free only up until 3pm on Christmas Eve (24th Dec).

After that date, visas will be required for all Colombian nationals, regardless of purchase date of tickets. That’s going to affect a great deal of people travelling for the Colombian January holidays and/or New Year’s festivities.

Why has the UK visa for Colombians come back?

The number of asylum applications from Colombia has been higher than from other Latin American countries, which seems to be the main driver for the action. In November 2022, Colombia was among a range of countries granted a visa waiver, but after two years that’s abruptly come to an end.

In a wider context, the flailing new UK government led by Kier Starmer is under a great deal of pressure over migration, especially asylum claimants. Put simply, the country is going to an insular Little Britain model as much as possible, with Brexit largely a result of similar concerns. They want a simple way to stop arrivals in the country and get an easy political win. They are paying little heed to how that happens.

That means searching for ways to bring asylum claims down – fraudulent or not. It should be said that Barreras himself noted the increase in Colombian claims, saying “from six in 2021, we’ve had 943 in 2024. The growth is absurd.”

This closed border mentality is mirrored in most of mainland Europe, the United States and Australia, with the latter two countries still requiring visas for Colombian tourists to enter. Mexico has made waves in recent years with heightened conditions for entry for Colombian nationals, although no visa is formally required, and many have been turned back at the gates.

A Colombian passport still allows visa free access to 85 countries, including the enormous Schengen block and Russia, interestingly. Within Latin America, things are generally seamless, with few requirements for Colombians to enter in most countries.

It remains to be seen whether the UK’s action will be the first step towards stricter controls in general for Colombians, or whether this is a one off. With anti-migrant feeling commonplace in richer countries and isolationist policies proving popular at the ballot box, the jury is out.

What does this mean for you?

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This week saw the capital come to a standstill on Wednesday as the paro camionero came into full effect. Major roads have been blocked by the truckers’ strike and there’s a quiet Sunday feel in midweek. With both the government and protestors refusing to back down, this may rumble on for a while.

It’s the first major protest in the country since 2021 and the first time that the Petro government has had to deal with large-scale disruption. It’s colossal in nature – average delays are over an hour and a half and over 2,000 stops out of service in the city’s bus network. It has affected 1.7 million people in the capital. 

This is countrywide, with various towns and cities effectively cut off from each other. There are stories all over the place about people stuck in provincial centres with the only road out blocked. There have been clashes in some zones such as Cauca, with furious citizens attacking truckers. 

The blockage is sometimes total, in other cases a four lane autopista will be cut to a single lane. As the trucks are not working while they block the roads, things aren’t being delivered – meaning prices of fresh goods are already rising. While shortages are a way off, don’t be surprised if shelves get lighter.

Why is it affecting Bogotá?

Everyone has long been aware of the problems posed by transport in Bogotá and its lack of resilience in situations like this. Schools and universities have simply shut their doors, as have many businesses and large organisations.

This is becoming the new normal in many ways, with a growing number of companies able to switch to home office at the drop of a hat. However, that’s simply not possible for a number of industries, such as construction.

It’s also wildly imbalanced in who it affects, as poorer residents of the city are far more impacted by these strikes. Only around 20% of the city commutes by car, meaning everyone else has fewer options to take alternative routes. 

Internet connections are prone to being knocked out with high usage and many people will share a single line, exacerbating the problem. Working or studying from home also requires a decent computer, which not everyone has access to. 

Bogotá is particularly vulnerable to transport disruption at the moment, with the ongoing Metro works also causing major delays as many stations and roads are now closed or highly limited. 

Why is the truckers’ strike happening?

It’s because of the increase in diesel prices coming into play when subsidies on commercial truck diesel, often known as ACPM, rose by nearly COP$2,000 per gallon. That led Fedetranscarga, the largest truckers’ union, to declare not only a strike but also block the roads, claiming that this will put small operators out of business.

The move is a logical one – those subsidies cost a lot of money and the government wants to use that money elsewhere. We’re not talking small numbers here, as the estimated saving to the state is around COP$1.6bn. Even so, there is still a whopping subsidy on diesel – up to 50% by some estimates.

Petro has form for this – shortly after assuming office he removed subsidies from petrol prices. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth when that was announced, but he rode it out easily enough. Critically, that was widely supported by economists, including those normally critical of him.

Some are framing the protests as part of a Centro Democrático agenda, with the Fedetranscarga boss Henry Cardenas being an outspoken fan of Uribe. There is plenty of support for the truckers’ strike coming from opposition parties, who are always happy to snipe at the government, but they aren’t organising this.

There’s plenty of criticism raining down from other sides too – the capital’s mayor, Carlos F Galán has criticised the national government for the situation. He claims that he has people ready to intervene and is being blocked by the national government as it will affect negotiations.

The Palacio Nariño responds to the truckers’ strike

Petro is in a tricky situation here. As not only a confirmed fan of direct action in general but indeed an active participant in various demonstrations and protests, he can’t really complain about others doing the same. Add to that the various marches he’s convened in support of his own government, and he has little moral authority to complain about the protests.

Worse still, breaking the strike means sending in UNDMO (the renamed ESMAD), the riot police. After all, Petro has spent plenty of time calling for them to be disbanded and railing against their existence. However, they’re already been sent in to deal with localised protests and open the roads again.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped him in the slightest. He’s vehemently against this protest and is claiming that they’re not real unions but more like cartels. He’s gone on the attack against Cardenas in particular. It seems that he wants the working man’s voice to be heard, but not if it’s speaking out against his policies.

This is a risky strategy – there’s often appetite in Colombia to keep protests rolling for a while and these affect a hell of a lot of voters, who are already voicing their disquiet. If a resolution can be reached before the start of next week, this could be a storm in a teacup. If not, it will become politically damaging quickly.

Where is affected?

By far the worst hit zones are those at the fringes of the city. However, as we mentioned earlier, the Transmilenio has also been severely affected as knock-on effects complicate matters. Check and double check before undertaking a journey to any of the mentioned places.

That means the localidades in Bogotá with major disruption are Bosa; Chapinero; Ciudad Bolívar; Fontibón; Kennedy; San Cristóbal; Suba; Rafael Uribe Uribe; Usaquén and Usme. Essentially, the entire outer shell of the city.

Closed Transmilenio stations are Troncal Caracas Sur; Portal Usme; Molinos; Socorro y Consuelo; Olaya; Restrepo; Fucha; Quiroga; Calle 40 Sur; Santa Lucía; Biblioteca; Parque and Portal Tunal. The @transmilenio Twitter account is giving regular updates.

Travelling out is also extremely difficult – the La Calera road has been blocked, as have the Autopistas Norte and Sur as well as the 80. The roads to the llanos are closed and even close towns such as Madrid, Soacha and Chía are likely to be hard to reach until the truckers’ strike is lifted.

Keep an eye on the news and listen to any reports – the situation is absolutely open to change and it’s at best unpredictable. It’s entirely possible that the paro could be lifted tomorrow, or that it could go on for a week.

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It’s been a long time coming, but the Colombian lower house finally announced a ban on bullfighting in the country. The law now passes to President Gustavo Petro to be passed into law for next year, following the byzantine political process of Colombia. He’s a long time opponent of the practice, so is certain to rubber stamp it.

While the debate has often been seen as wildly controversial and a political hot potato, that’s somewhat misleading. Yesterday’s vote passed with just two objections and public opinion is in favour of the measure. At least, among those that care about the topic. Most people don’t see it as a key issue at all.

The process to get here has been as legally tortuous as the practice itself, with various bills archived and sidelined over the years. This latest bill found success by dropping other elements, most notably a ban on cockfighting. It will come in from next year, but the ban will be staggered over three years, meaning 2028 will be the first with the practice completely illegal.

The three-year period is designed to give everyone involved in the bullfighting world the chance to find alternative jobs and commerce. This was another compromise necessary to pass the bill, bypassing some economic arguments in favour of the corridas. The plazas de toros will be converted into general purposes stadiums for events such as concerts and so on.

Also exempted are correlejas, a mainly costeño practice where a bull is taunted, but — critically — not killed. Many animal rights activists point out that there is much more to be done on forms of entertainment that they see as involving animal abuse, including both cockfighting and correlejas.

The final bill was put forward by Juan Carlos Losada, a Liberal party congressman, after 14 previous attempts. Along the way, he had to clarify that matadores are not a minority group like AfroColombians or Indigenous groups. In 2018, bullfighting was declared an important part of culture by the constitutional court in an attempt to safeguard the practice across the country.

Colombia is joining most of the region in banning the practice. While neighbouring Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador all permit the killing of bulls in corridas, the rest of the continent does not. Globally, only Spain and Mexico are fully in favour of widespread deaths in the ring. Both those countries also have regional exceptions.

Bullfighting in Bogotá 

The practice has never been particularly popular in Bogotá, reflecting its position as Colombia’s most progressive city by far. There is a strong animal rights movement and a general dislike for barbaric and outdated practices.

Current president Gustavo Petro put into place a de facto ban on bullfighting in Bogotá during his time as city mayor by simply not allowing the bullrings to be used by the toreros. That was ruled to be unconstitutional, which meant the fights returned in 2017, with then mayor Enrique Peñalosa saying he reluctantly had to follow the law despite huge protests.

With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, Claudia López had an easier time of it. With everything on a long pause from the start of her mayoral career, bullfighting simply didn’t happen anyway. Then she extended animal abuse protections to cover bulls, essentially banning the practice in the capital.

The heartlands of tauromachy in Colombia are far from the capital, both in the central cordillera in places like Tolima, Valle de Cauca and Caldas as well as on the Caribbean coast. Across the country, only a couple of dozen municipalities still hold bullfights, with Manizales or Cali perhaps the biggest and most famous.

Colombia bans bullfighting, but what comes next?

As ever in Colombia, implementation is the 64 million dollar question. This is likely to be one of the easier laws to put into practice though. It’s not really possible to conduct a full-on bullfight in a backyard. In an age where violations of the law are going to be easy to record and detail, it’s hard to see this continuing in the long term.

Of course, in the short term there will be enthusiastic bullfighting in the window of opportunity where it is still legal. This is likely to be dressed up as a protection of regional culture and/or a rejection of the current political leadership. 

The real danger lies in a change of government. The current administration is fully behind animal rights in principle, even if somewhat woolly in practice. However, a change of direction is entirely likely in 2026 and this is the type of issue that may get picked up as a culture war talking point.

As mentioned earlier, bullfighting is disproportionately popular both on the right wing of Colombian politics and among marginalised poor rural coastal communities. The latter is a constituency that has leaned strongly pro-Petro, so could be targeted with the restoration of bullfighting as a form of identifying with the culture.

However, this is far from certain. Regionally, people are moving away from bullfighting. It’s increasingly seen as representative of Iberian culture rather than Latin American. With most of Colombia already onside, it will be hard to turn this around – animal abuse is rarely a vote-winner countrywide. For at least a few years, bulls can rest a little easier.

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People are also flocking to Parque de los Hippies where a march will start and flow towards the Parque Nacional. The two streams will be joined by others and eventually pool in the Plaza Bolívar, outside Congress.

There will be a mini-festival in the plaza later, accompanied by an address by President Gustavo Petro. We don’t mean a regular rally, either, this has artists of the calibre of Aterciopelados, La Pacifican Power, Bomba Estéreo and La 33.

This is a real head-scratcher of an event. It’s in support of the current government and isn’t focused on any particular point of interest. Think of it as a simple expression of faith in the current administration. If anything, it’s more of a political rally dressed up as a fiesta than it is a protest.

Fiesta feeling

In that sense, it has a nice feel to it. Unlike many demonstrations, it’s in favour of something positive and a celebration of who’s in power rather than a rejection or protest against something negative. There’s certainly a feel of folksy friendliness, although that’s matched by questions over the commitment to leftist beliefs. 

The indigenous minga arrived yesterday and they are out in force. That said, many remain in the camp they have established in Tercer Milenio and plan to head to Congress from there. Estimates put their numbers at about 14,000, which includes dozens of different ethnic groups from all corners of Colombia.

Representatives from the minga (a term for a collective action of indigenous people) will go on to meet Petro after today, as they have pressing concerns around access to education and health as well as deforestation and mining. The presidential door is always open to them, but actions have not so far matched words.

A call from power

Petro has called this rally as a distraction from what is rapidly becoming a beleaguered presidency. He’s coming under growing criticism as his term goes on. He’s failing to get his reforms through Congress and shedding ministers at a rate of knots. That’s before you consider the murky campaign financing stories that are surfacing.

It’s a new phenomenon in Colombia, too, as marches up until now have generally been leftists protesting right-wing governments. As the left is in power now, that has changed the landscape and upended the normal way of doing things.

Controversially, this is a publically funded show of support for the ruling party. This isn’t the first time Petro’s done this, either. The cost is now spiralling to around COP$600 million spent on political rallies in just over a year in office. The money covers the organisation of barriers, stages, PA systems and so on.

Those figures do not involve the cost of policing, either, which is separate. That’s looking far calmer than normal, with the trade unions, indigenous communities and hippies so far dominating proceedings. Things are unlikely to get tasty later on – though you never know – and the coppers are hanging back for now.

The renamed ESMAD are at home and aren’t even hanging around in side corners as they did in other recent protests. That’s probably for the best, given their incredibly controversial profile, including killing student Dílan Cruz in the 2019 protests. Today’s events don’t look like being anything close to that.

Recent Bogotá protests

The presidency of Iván Duque, from 2018-22, saw an unprecedented number of protests and demonstrations. Before that, protests tended to be fairly small with the notable exception of the peace marches. International Womens Day and Pride marches have also seen large upticks in numbers in recent years.

Thousands came out to support Santos’ peace plan, which laid the ground for the spikier protests against Duque. Those kicked off almost immediately, with students protesting against his education plans after less than three months in office. 

There were further protests in 2019, before things got a lot bigger in 2020 with tens of thousands hitting the streets. That year was then rocked by the reaction to the death of Javier Ordóñez at police hands. Thousands went to the streets and burnt CAIs.

While that was the most deadly protest in the capital, there was still more to come in 2021. Public reaction to the proposed tax reform was incredibly negative, and saw around a month of ongoing protests. In Bogotá that was relatively calm, but Cali fell into near-anarchy. That eventually came to an end, but there were yet more protests later in the year.

Today is unlikely to go the same way, but it will be interesting to see what happens next. We’ve talked before about how the rightwing are not used to protesting, and they haven’t raised any support yet. Actions like this from the central government also flood the zone and make it hard to organise a time.

l the same, you have to question whether a sitting president should be rallying thousands to his cause. Can we call today’s protests organic? Is it OK for the centre of the city to be blocked off by relatively small numbers on a regular basis? Is this dangerous populism? Different people will have their own answers to those questions, and only time will tell.

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Call it an Easter surprise: shortly after Colombia’s holiest week, semana santa, a top FARC dissident guerrilla appears before a huge crowd of followers in rural Caquetá to talk peace on behalf of the country’s second largest armed group.

Nestor Gregorio Vera Fernández, better known as Iván Mordisco, represents the Estado Mayor Central (EMC) which oversees 3,400 dissident fighters of the FARC-EP divided in 23 fronts over half of Colombia.

The catch is that Mordisco was supposed to be dead, as announced with great fanfare by former president Iván Duque in July last year. 

The Frente 1 leader – who had led nearly 400 guerrilla fighters back to the bush after rejecting a peace agreement in 2016 – was “brought down in a firefight with army special forces”.  

Except he wasn’t. And nine months later Mordisco´s resurrection is a poke in the eye for both past and present political establishments.

First up in the embarrassment stakes is President Petro, who since January has maintained a shaky ceasefire between numerous armed groups and state forces as a prelude to his ambitious Total Peace plan.

Appearances matter

This ceasefire created conditions for the Caquetá gathering, but not as Petro planned: Mordisco was supposed to appear unarmed and in civilian clothes to mingle with government commissioners and foreign ambassadors, all the better to underline an end to conflict.

FARC flipped the script: Mordisco’s Estado Mayor Central went full fariana with military regalia, insignia, banners, salutes, and revolutionary hymns against a backdrop of flag-waving campesinos and indigenous guards shipped in from all over Colombia. To save face, Petro’s team stayed away.

And Mordisco clearly didn’t get the “no guns” memo. Escorted by an armed squadron of uniformed bodyguards, he personally sported a modern Tar-21 assault rifle with a telescopic night-sight, leading many to draw parallels with the failed negotiations at the turn of the century.

This choice of gun caused quite a ripple in Colombian commentators more used to the rusty AK-47s shouldered by the old FARC. Mordisco’s US$2,000 deadly Israeli adornment seemed somehow to clash with his anti-capitalist invective and proposals for peace.

“We are ready to start talks…with the hope that these lead to elements that contribute to overcome the conditions that have created the armed conflict,” Mordisco announced to the crowd.

Which begs the question: why didn’t Mordisco lay down arms in 2016?

Mordisco was the original hold-out against the historic peace process between former president Juan Manuel Santos – he won a Nobel peace prize for his efforts – and the FARC-EP guerrilla group, or the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia – Ejercito del Pueblo to give them their full name.

Mordisco and fellow FARC commander Gentil Duarte distrusted Santos’s peace partly because of state trickery during previous peace cycles, such as the extermination of the FARC-sponsored Union Patriotica party in the 1980s.

But their act of dissidence also triggered a self-fulfilling tragedy as the renegade FARC units fed public doubt in the peace process. Santos’s accord was publicly rejected by a small majority in a national referendum in October, 2016.

This in turn emboldened his presidential successor, Iván Duque, to unpick the agreements leading to a security crisis for majority of the FARC who had demobilised: in the six years since more than 350 former fighters have been assassinated, and many aspects of the 2016 Peace Agreement are still unfulfilled.

To further undermine the former peace process, the  FARC EMC declared in Caquetá last week that they were not dissidents at all because “the peace process never existed”, as a young commander Andrey Avendaño told gathered journalists.

This statement caused some indignation among seasoned conflict commentators: if the FARC are themselves declaring the last plan a hoax, why should anyone back a new one?

And to add fuel to the fire, Avandaño claimed that, yes, he personally had signed the Santos Peace Agreement “as an opportunity to get out of jail” in 2018. He then went back to the fight.

Who should benefit from peace?

This highlights a legal and moral wrangle which shadows Petro’s Total Peace plan: can former demobilised fighters who re-joined armed groups be given a second bite of the apple?

Perhaps it is this dilemma that leads the FARC EMC to emphasise its “true FARC” title – and to show up to peace talks suited, booted and heavily armed – and simultaneously to rubbish the previous Peace Agreement.

The last is a low blow to their former comrades who did demobilise. And it’s often the same dissident FARC fighters who are killing their demobilised former comrades.  

Understandably the peaceful political projects of the former FARC – such as the Partido Comunes  – have been cautious in welcoming Paz Total and any deal with the dissidents, mindful of how it might affect the precarious situation of those who sought peace in 2016

“Any agreement between the government and these organisations should not be detrimental to those already made between the FARC-EP and Colombian state,” Comunes spokesman Julián Gallo told Red Noticias after the appearance of Mordisco in Caquetá.

Another issue is that the FARC EMC is failing to comply with the current ceasefire, according to Indepaz, a conflict think tank based in Bogotá.

Even while talking peace, the FARC EMC are currently entangled in a struggle for the cocaine trade with the Segunda Marquetalia, led by former FARC leader Iván Márquez, who with several high-level commanders abandoned the current peace process in 2019 and created another alternative FARC group.

This conflict between two powerful former FARC groups has sown terror and confusion among civilian communities in the flashpoint departments of Putumayo and Nariño, not least because campesinos can’t differentiate between two similar groups expounding the same ideology – and carrying banners of the same dead leaders – while being implacably opposed.

Peace sells, but who’s buying?

Segunda Marquetalia is also negotiating to enter to Petro’s Total Peace plan along with powerful armed groups the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN)  and the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC).

If it sounds complicated, well, it is. In recent history every Colombian president has laid out their peace plan as soon as entering office. But most aim to tackle just one insurgency, usually without success.

Petro’s “everyone-everywhere-all-at-once” plan of  Paz Total  is seen as over-ambitious. Since the ceasefire announced in January – which is mostly observed just by state forces – many rural communities have seen increased conflict as irregular armed groups fight over territorial voids. ELN especially have made a point of ignoring the ceasefire.

Petro’s shotgun approach may seem quixotic, but is likely an attempt to address the reality that most Colombian conflict is multifaceted. Most impact on civilians stems from combat between irregular armed groups, rather than direct insurrection with the state. There is an argument that peace can only involve everyone.

This realpolitik requires a fudge in categorising armed groups as ‘ideological’ or ‘criminal’, and some leniency towards combatants who demobilised then went back to arms. The question is how far Petro can push the political boundaries and keep public support.

Root and branch reform

Even within just one armed group there is much room for debate. The FARC, for example, is “like a big tree with a large trunk, and many branches,” explained Indepaz director Camillo Gonzalez after the Caquetá event.

“The tree trunk entered into an agreement in Havana and laid down arms. Some branches didn’t enter the accord, but they have the same roots,” said Gonzalez, referring to the dissidence branches. The problem now is Mordisco’s claim to the FARC trunk – and not the twig.  

This is disingenuous since the disidencia is today mostly young recruits who never knew the old FARC, or former combatants – like Avandaño – who signed the Santos peace deal then went back to fight.

Meanwhile the FARC EMC has aggressively expanded its trafficking routes – gold and cocaine – westward to the Pacific Coast, down to Ecuador and Peru, and eastward along the Orinoco to Venezuela’s Atlantic Coast where units with Colombian commanders patrol the river in speedboats and outgun the Venezuelan National Guard. 

These activities suggest a transnational crime group rather than an ideological entity worthy of a political olive branch. 

Even the ELN recently declared that it “does not recognize the (FARC) EMC as an autonomous and independent organization, but rather as a criminal organization”.

And for many Colombians, the doubt remains that such lucrative illegal enterprises, even with a political veneer, can genuinely shut down. The risk is a scam where senior commanders see Total Peace as an early retirement scheme while the young guns step up. 

Can Iván Mordisco turn this around? His unexpected appearance in Caquetá certainly made waves. But as the caravan of peace rolls on, he might want to rethink his image at the upcoming dialogue scheduled for May 16th.

And perhaps hang up his camouflage and Tor-21, and instead wear jeans and carry a notebook. That, though, would be a miracle.

The post Iván Mordisco: back from the dead appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Colombia could now be home to 200 wild hippos, according to a scientific report which also proposes hunting the African mammals which originally escaped from drug baron Pablo Escobar’s ranch in the 1990s.

At current breeding rates, numbers could exceed 1,000 in another decade. The renegade semi aquatic mammals need urgent reduction, says a report on the management, control and eradication of Hippopotamus amphibius co-written by the Humboldt Institute and National University.

According to El Espectador, “Scientists recognize the negative impacts they can have on the ecosystems they have been colonizing… invasive species are one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss not only in the country, but in the world.”

Culling is just one potential control method. Confinement and moving them overseas has also been mooted with recent announcements of hippo relocation to places like India and Mexico.  

Imported intentionally and illegally

Meanwhile the hippos march on in the “ideal conditions” of the Magdalena River. The 170-page study, which is yet to be validated by the Ministry of the Environment, details the expansion of hippos into seven population groups around Nare, Berrío, Yondó and the Momposian zones of the lowland Colombia, an area covering 100 kilometers of river and swamps.

According to the report, the hippos are descended from three breeding pairs introduced to Colombia “in an illegal and intentional manner in the 1980s” by Escobar and kept at his ranch Hacienda Nápoles, where some captive hippos are still on display today. Their wild cousins escaped soon after Escobar’s death in 1993 when the ranch fell into ruin.

Last year, a survey registered 169 free-living hippos though it’s a sub-count: an upper estimate suggests as many as 215 individuals could be out there. The majority are calves and young adults looking for new territories.

The largest group – around 117 at the last tally – still wallows in lakes and rivers close to Nápoles in Puerto Triunfo, Antioquia, the area most affected by the hippo invasion. Just last week a hippo was killed and two people injured when their car struck the massive mammal on a main road in nearby Doradal.

“This painful accident reaffirms the importance of urgently carrying out the translocation of hippos to India and Mexico,” said the Antioquia’s governor after the accident, asking for government support for the plan which could reduce the local hippo population by 70 beasts.

Competition for resources

Crashing into them is just one of many social and environmental problems connected to the invaders. Competition for resources, displacement, disease transmission, contribution of large amounts of fecal matter that overloads river systems, soil compaction, are some of the other impacts we’re seeing.

Hippos eat land vegetation – up to 50 kilograms a day – but poop it out in the water. This raises nitrate levels, causing algal blooms and killing fish. Their large bulk can erode riverbanks and destroy the local environment, according to the report. That said, it’s not clear how much worse this is compared to widespread cattle farming in the region.

Another potential impact is on existing native semi-aquatic mammals such as manatees, otters and capybaras, though these were heavily under threat even before hippos. Then there’s human-hippo interactions with wild hippos wandering through towns and villages around Puerto Triunfo and reports of confrontations with fishermen and farmers.

It’s not as fun as it sounds: Hippos are aggressive and territorial and officially the deadliest large mammal – they kill on average 500 people in Africa every year – and can attack boats and canoes and people on land, and have been known to attack humans, cattle and horses around the River Magdalena.

The demise of Pepe

Despite these dangers though, many Colombians welcome them, and the report admits hippo support among local folk who see the animal outlaws as “Pablo’s pets” and tokens of the “opulence and prestige” that the notorious cartel leader formerly brought to the zone, along with danger and destruction.

Even the odd rogue hippo has its fans. In 2007 local environment authorities were stuck with the case of a male hippo called Pepe which attacked canoes and broke farm fences close to Puerto Berrio.

Plans were made to trap it and transfer it to a zoo in Costa Rica but permits fell through so after continued aggression by the hippo, it was shot by trained hunters in 2009.

Then controversy erupted after photos circulated of army troops posing with the dead Pepe, who was still clearly popular with some of the local population. This sparked a court ruling protecting other hippos from being hunted.

Pepe’s historical case highlights the tightrope currently walked by environmental agencies in the Magdalena Valley: addressing the hippo problem in ways acceptable to a human population often campaigning to “leave them in peace”.

Of course, some local people like hippos for other reasons. According to the report, some have ended up grilled on the barbecue and baby hippos have vanished into the exotic pet trade.

One clear conclusion of the Humboldt Institute and National University study is that Colombia needs less hippos. And this is done best by “controlled hunting, translocation and confinement.” Previous attempts to sterilize hippos were not seen as a realistic way forward.

And as we’ve seen with the case of Pepe, flying hippos overseas is also a difficult option. If they can’t transfer one hippo, how will they manage seventy? India and Mexico might want hippos, but can Colombia deliver?

Confinement could mean creation of a “hippo game park” or large cages somehow controlling them with physical barriers to keep them in which is very challenging given their size, strength and ability to walk underwater.

Rights for hippos

What’s left? Culling hippos either through hunting or possibly poisoning them, activities which are bound to create controversy, court cases and international scrutiny.  The Ministry of the Environment has yet to pronounce on the Humboldt Institute and National University study but will likely find itself in a legal battle as soon as it does.

Crucial to any hippo control is the court ruling in 2022 that hippos are “invasive species” in Colombia, but already that legal framework is being challenged at State Council level by private citizens arguing that animal welfare regulations should supersede any kill or contain orders.

According to this challenge hippos are “sensitive exotic vertebrate beings” and “their welfare must be observed in any management plan”. That probably excludes killing them.

And by some legal twist, Colombia’s hippos are “protected persons” under US law after a nutty ruling in an Ohio courthouse in 2021, though it has no legal bearing on Colombia.

More human-hippo accidents, such as last week’s crash in Doradal, could swing the pendulum. Following news of the dead hippo and injured humans, the Attorney General’s Office reminded the State Council that “keeping Hipopotamus amphibius on the list of invasive species in Colombia is crucial to address the environmental crisis generated and protect the life of the community.”

Still, a strong sector of the public will hold out for the hippos. It will be a long road to eradication. For now, at least, Colombia’s hippos can rest easy in the Magdalena River.

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The air was thick with spray paint fumes and shouts of “les molesta el trancón pero no la violación”, as demonstrators gathered on Women’s Day in Bogotá to express their anger and grief at the high incidence of femicides and domestic and sexual violence in Colombia. 

Last year 612 femicides were recorded in the country, and just 68 days into 2023, this year’s confirmed number has already reached 55 according to the Observatorio de Feminicidios de Colombia. Those numbers are likely to rise as the cases are investigated and more confirmed. Many of yesterday’s placards referenced the recent murder of 23-year-old DJ Valentina Trespalacios whose partner is under investigation after her body was found in a suitcase.

Activists point to high levels of impunity for perpetrators as a key factor. Problems with police treatment of victims also contributes to underreporting of violence against women.

Many marches on Women’s Day in Bogotá

Several marches took place on Women’s Day in Bogotá, the largest of which was organised by activist group Somos Un Rostro Colectivo to call for a state of national emergency in response to machista violence. 

The demonstration started at 3pm outside the Fiscalía with dance and musical performances, a free HIV testing station and spray-painting of slogans like “nosotras histéricas somos históricas”. Participants then made their way towards the Centro de la Memoria, joining an alternative march that had come from the La Pola statue. 

Following in the pattern of last year’s event, the afternoon did not pass without clashes between demonstrators and police. Heavy police presence failed to prevent masked, and in many cases topless, protestors smashing glass doors and spray painting feminist symbols at several Transmilenio stops.

Protestors also sought to highlight reproductive rights in Colombia. A little over a year ago, the constitutional court took the huge step of decriminalising abortion regardless of motivation until the 24th week of pregnancy. However, some activist groups are campaigning for further liberalisation of abortion legislation and for more government action to overcome barriers like social stigma and objections within the medical community. 

Elsewhere in the city, human rights group Latinoamérica Sin Presos Políticos marked Women’s Day by unveiling a large mural on Carrera 19 #69. The art work pays tribute to three female political prisoners: María Oviedo (Nicaragua), Aymara Nieto Muñoz (Cuba) and Maria Lourdes Afiuni (Venezuela). Speakers highlighted the heightened vulnerability of female prisoners during a speech at the event, calling for visitors to the mural to act as “spokespeople” for women unjustly imprisoned for raising their voices.

Local authorities in Bogotá also organised an event at the Plaza Bolívar with pop-up stalls advertising services for women in the city, including Línea Púrpura, a support service for victims of domestic violence. Bogotá’s first female mayor, Claudia López, made a speech at the event, highlighting the essential work of women, from campaigners for women’s rights to key workers during the pandemic. 

Support for victims of domestic violence

Victims of domestic violence can call the 123 (the primary emergency line) or 155 (the dedicated national women’s domestic violence hotline). Additional support options are outlined n the directory developed by Siete Polas and Mutante, which can be downloaded and sent by WhatsApp or email. It includes phone numbers and emails for both governmental and non-governmental organisations, with lawyers and support networks throughout the country. The Secretaría Distrital de la Mujer also has 24-hour phone lines and breaks down support by district.

The post Women’s day in Bogotá 2023: What happened? appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

Thousands of passengers were stranded at airports this week after Viva Air grounded its flights. 

Colombia’s beleaguered budget airline, Viva Air, grounded flights this week after months of uncertainty about its future. On Monday February 27, the airline announced it would suspend operations with immediate effect. 

Thousands of passengers have been left stranded at airports both nationally and internationally.  Flights were cancelled in Bogotá, Cartagena, Cali, Barranquilla, as well as Argentina, Perú and Brazil. Avianca and LatAm have stopped sales on some routes to accommodate passengers. Military planes have been dispatched to the Caribbean islands of San Andrés and Providencia.

Viva Air blamed Aerocivil for the suspension of flights. It said the aviation authority had failed to make a decision about a potential merger with a “bigger and stronger group of airlines.” It didn’t directly name Avianca as it has in previous communications. In their own statement on the matter, Aerocivil asked Viva Air to guarantee the rights of its users and immediately find solutions for passengers. It also asked customers to “calm down.” 

On February 10, Viva Air filed for a type of bankruptcy which essentially gave it 90 days to restructure its debts while continuing its operations. This process will continue in spite of the decision to halt operations. The challenge is that Viva Air needs cash. According to El País, it lost around 36 million US dollars in the first half of last year.

Why did Viva Air ground its flights?

Viva Air is one of a number of airlines that have had trouble regaining momentum after the pandemic. Just as travel restrictions were lifted and people had started to travel again, the industry was hit by fuel price hikes which put more pressure on an already struggling industry. 

Viva Air and Avianca have made several attempts to merge their operations. An initial proposal, made in April last year, would have seen Avianca acquire its ailing competitor. The two companies then proposed a merger, which was also rejected due to competition concerns. Attempts to modify the proposal have not proved successful.

Most recently, Aerocivil registered other airlines – Wingo, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Ultra Air, LATAM Colombia, and JetSMART – as interested parties. According to the statement from Viva Air, this will slow the process and stop it from accessing the capital it needs to continue flying. Aerocivil said that it is part of normal procedure to open the process to third parties, as its responsibility is to find the best solution for the market, particularly passengers. 

Will Viva Air start operations again?

Possibly. The trouble is that it’s impossible to know what will happen next. Viva Air argues that if its merger with Avianca goes ahead, it may be able to restart operations. But we don’t know how long it will take for Aerocivil to rule on the Avianca merger or what might happen with the offers from other airlines.

Unfortunately, it seems as if Viva Air customers are caught up in a spat between the airline and the authorities. Both sides blame the other, but it doesn’t really matter who is right – neither have provided passengers with information about how to get their money back or reorganize their flights.

I have a flight booked with Viva Air, what should I do?

Viva Air says that passengers should go to their website for more information. However, the website has no details on how to recoup your money or rebook your flight. In fact, the site is not working at all. You can also try calling on (604) 6044900. Unfortunately, you may not be able to get your money back, whatever the airline is saying.

If you’re due to fly before March 5, LATAM says it will take you at no extra cost as long as it has available seats. Passengers with flights in the coming days should contact LATAM for more information. Avianca has made a similar offer.

If you booked your flight using a credit card, talk to your credit card issuer to see if you can get your money back that way. Some credit cards offer travel insurance or other forms of protection, but every policy will be different. If you have travel insurance, check your policy to find out whether it covers airline bankruptcy and what protections you may have against cancelled flights. It is also worth registering a claim with the Superintendencia de Transporte. 

Flight staff and other Viva employees are currently striking outside the El Dorado airport in Bogotá, so be aware of potential issues if you are flying, even if not with any of the airlines mentioned. There might also be significant disruption inside the airports.

The post What Viva Air’s suspension of flights means for passengers appeared first on The Bogotá Post.

After several tense months – and some twitter-baiting from the president himself – the Petro government has finally presented plans to reform Colombia’s health system. Congress will now debate radical proposals which could up-end decades of private-public partnership.

People are rightly nervous, even within Petro’s own cabinet. Can his plans revive the ailing body of health services? Or will medical meddling push the patient into rigor mortis? 

Nothing is certain, but here’s what we know so far.

An end to the EPSs?

No-one loves their EPS, but we might miss them if Petro’s plan goes ahead. 

Empresa Promotora de Salud are insurers that link patients to a network of health providers. They are also intermediaries for disbursement of government health funds, frequently caught in corruption scandals, or going broke overnight leaving their thousands of patients in limbo. 

A central plank of Petro’s plan is to scrap the EPSs in their current form and return most of their functions to state entities. The private EPSs, “suck money out of the health system” he tweeted recently, going to the core of his argument that “health should not be a business.”

But in Colombia health has long been delivered through a for-profit health partnership between EPSs and public institutions that was launched in 1993 and lauded soon after as the “most fair in the world” by the World Health Organisation. 

One innovation was pooling social security funds from salaried workers with government subsidies for the poor and unemployed. The goal was to get more people signed onto health insurance plans, and it worked with bells on. Since its inception, in thirty years enrolment shot up from 25% to over 95%.

Today that success is something of a mirage. Particularly in rural areas, where communities are signed onto health plans. EPSs frequently fail to deliver services leaving fragile public health clinics to pick up the pieces.

EPSs tend to cherry-pick busy urban areas where they work to maximise profits. They tend to focus on curative medicine – care packets to sell – rather than preventative health. There’s less profit in stopping people from getting sick. 

And to boost profits EPSs run their own “premium” schemes which fast-track wealthy patients to gilded suites while the masses struggle with wait lists and automated phone centres. The longer the wait, the more incentive for people to join the premium plan – at least those that can afford it.

Health reform? Or a new model…

Despite these distortions, the larger EPS’s have managed insurance plans and networks of health providers for 30 years accruing vital expertise, particularly in risk management and auditing. And for most Colombians, they are the recognisable face of health care. 

More to the point: how easily can they be replaced? 

Scrapping the current system will result in “a great chaos” warned ACEMI this week, the Asociación Colombiana de Empresas de Medicina Integral which represents EPSs and their allied private health providers.

At a wider level, Petro has no plans to end private health. Wealthy Colombians can still access premier services. But the majority will shift from their EPSs to a public health body. 

ACEMI’s worry – shared by some of Petro’s own cabinet – is how will that work. And when? Petro’s plan is thin on specifics. And how will Petro overcome that torpor characterises public entities in Colombia? 

According to ACEMI, most Colombians “want to improve EPSs, but not to end them.” Petro´s proposals go beyond a simple reform, it claims: “What the Government is proposing is a new health model that would start from zero.” That’s a worry for anyone needing regular health care. 

A pivot to primary health care 

A possible future role for the EPS’s mooted by Health Minister Carolina Corcho is to manage a network of community clinics, or CAPS – Centros de Atención Prioritaria en Salud. Each would aim to cover 20,000 people, with doctors and nurses covering primary health, health promotion, and family planning. 

The network would incorporate existing public clinics and hospitals but also 3,000 new facilities each fully staffed and managing outreach teams for remote and indigenous communities. 

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. First, there is the cost, COP$25 billion just for infrastructure, according to initial estimates presented by Corcho. Tellingly, the CAPS plan comes with a caveat: “assuming funds available,” which means all or nothing at all.

And EPS involvement in CAPS was a late U-turn from Petro following outcry over his plan to scrap them. But even that has failed to soothe public nerves, since their new incarnation will be so stripped down to be effectively “liquidated”, according to ACEMI. 

Bringing it back to rural areas

Petro’s CAPS plan could have its biggest impact in rural areas where populations have dire access to health services. Around 800 of the country’s 1,112 municipalities rely on a run-down public clinic and 56 percent of rural areas have only ruins of health posts built in previous public health plans in the 1980s.

This is partly down to weak institutions, but also an economy of scale. Take the department of Guainía for example with a rural population of 10,000 people spread over 72,000 square kilometres – about the same size as Scotland. And all swamps and jungles and rivers. In fact, the only official road goes to the airport. Bringing health here is a challenge for any health system, and doubly difficult to turn a profit. 

The same can be said for departments like Amazonas, Chocó, La Guajira, Vichada, and Vaupés. All are huge territories with poor populations strung out over huge distances with hardly any transport systems and weak or non-existent health services. 

Read also: Patients and patience in Colombia’s health system

These inequalities mean people dying. In Vichada, for example, infant mortality rates are 281 per 100,000, almost seven times the national average (42 deaths per 100,000). 

Another feature of rural areas is reliance on air ambulances for critical cases, which in Amazon and the Eastern Llanos Plains invariably evacuate patients to Bogotá hospitals, assuming the community is lucky enough to have a serviceable airstrip.

That sounds good in theory – it means lives are saved. But once again it feeds a for-profit system cashing in on a nearly total lack of resolutive health services on the ground. 

Other fixes to the health system

Health system problems don’t exist in isolation, and Colombia’s congress will be looking at complementary solutions while considering Petro’s reform plan. For example, finding ways to increase the rate of formal employment. 

This matters because the original reforms of 1991 assumed a shift to salaried workers which contribute directly to health plans. But thirty years on most adults are still working informally – around 60%, according to the DANE. That figure has not shifted in a decade. 

While some independent contractors also contribute to the health pot, many other informal workers are enrolled in the subsidised scheme meaning government still covers half the population for health care contributions. Getting workers in formal employment, or more independent workers contributing, will lower that burden.

Another perennial problem for Colombia is its weak public institutions, particularly in rural areas. It means they are more prone to funds lost to corruption, but also poor management and short-term planning. For example, hundreds of telemedicine kits have been donated to rural clinics in recent years by central government. The trouble is there are no plans for broadband internet to connect them. 

Then there are also two large elephants in the room: cocaine and conflict. Coca-growing areas invariably fall outside the health net and armed groups routinely harass health workers, extort services and supplies, or even their salaries, or scare them away altogether. 

Recognising these realities and developing strategies to deliver health in conflict zones – collaborations with NGOs and human rights groups for example – could improve access for stranded communities.

Health services can also be simplified to be more effective. Colombia’s restrictive practices mean only doctors can deliver babies. This may work in cities, but it’s hardly practical for vast rural areas with no MD in sight. Incorporating traditional midwives in the health plan could reduce infant mortality if handled correctly.

Can congress find a compromise?

It’s unlikely that Petro’s health plan will pass muster in its purest form. There is no popular clamour to scrap the EPS system in urban areas and Petro’s own team is worried radical change is a reform too far. And any sensible timeline for such a radical shift would take years longer than Petro’s current presidential term. 

But behind the bluster is a real need to overhaul the system, particularly in rural areas. This goes hand in hand with other social reforms and the pressing need to tackle conflict and corruption. 

Can Congress find a compromise solution that delivers fairer health without tearing down the house? That’s what Colombians are hoping for.

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