• Human Rights Defenders

‘We won’t give up, we’ll keep fighting’: activists in Colombia vow to resist far-right push for fossil fuels. Colombia has become a key battleground in the global struggle between environmental defenders and a resurgent far right aligned with fossil-fuel interests. It focuses on activists, Indigenous communities, Afro-Colombian groups and local organisations resisting oil, coal and mining projects, particularly in regions such as La Guajira, where communities say extractive industries have brought environmental damage, water scarcity and social conflict. There are growing threats from conservative and far-right politicians, business interests and armed groups that portray environmental activism as an obstacle to economic growth. Activists say they face intimidation, legal harassment and violence while defending land, water and Indigenous rights, yet continue to organise against new extraction projects and in favour of a just energy transition that protects vulnerable communities rather than simply replacing one form of exploitation with another.

• Conflict, Victims and Peace Talks

The Prosecutor’s Office resolved the legal situation of the former director of the DAS, Miguel Maza Márquez, and points to him as the alleged co-perpetrator of the murder of Carlos Pizarro. Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office has formally determined the legal status of former DAS director Miguel Maza Márquez, identifying him as a presumed co-author in the 1990 assassination of presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro Leongómez. Prosecutors allege that, while heading the DAS, Maza deliberately weakened Pizarro’s security detail, facilitated the leaking of information about his movements and coordinated with paramilitary leaders Carlos and Fidel Castaño, actions that allegedly enabled the assassination and its subsequent cover-up. Maza is already serving a sentence for his role in the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán.

Violent escalation in Chocó: more than 50 terrorist actions in six days set off alarms. The department of Chocó has experienced one of its most serious security crises of the year following a coordinated six-day offensive by the ELN, which authorities say carried out more than 50 attacks across the region. According to the military, troops prevented a further 23 planned attacks, while the governor of Chocó, Nubia Carolina Córdoba Curi, warned that the scale and sophistication of the offensive had overwhelmed existing security measures and called for an urgent reinforcement. Authorities believe the violence was intended to mark the ELN’s 62nd anniversary and demonstrate the group’s operational capacity.

Colombia doubles its victims, but not the resources to repair them. Nearly a decade after Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement with the FARC and four years after the publication of the Truth Commission’s final report, a new monitoring report warns that the country’s reparations system is struggling to cope with the scale of victims’ needs. The number of officially registered victims has risen to 10.2 million, almost double the original projections, while funding, institutional capacity and staffing have not been expanded accordingly. The report highlights serious shortcomings in support for survivors of sexual violence, Indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombian communities, LGBTIQ+ victims and Colombians living in exile, noting that implementation of psychosocial support for women remains particularly limited.

De la Espriella’s proposal to create urban security blocs crashes with the specter of paramilitarism. Controversy surrounds president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella’s proposal to create Urban Security Defence Units to tackle extortion, homicide and organised crime in Colombia’s major cities. The proposal risks reviving structures similar to the Convivir civilian self-defence groups of the 1990s, many of which later became linked to paramilitary organisations responsible for widespread human rights abuses. De la Espriella has provided few details about how the units would operate, although he has suggested they could include retired military personnel, prompting legal experts to question their constitutional basis, oversight mechanisms and relationship with existing police and military forces.

The child recruitment crisis that Petro leaves to De la Espriella: a 300% increase and 65 minors killed in bombings. President Petro is leaving his successor, president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, with a significantly worsened child recruitment crisis after four years in office. Citing data from the UN, UNICEF, Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office and the Coalition Against the Involvement of Children and Youth in the Armed Conflict (COALICO), it states that the forced recruitment of children by armed groups increased by around 300% during Petro’s presidency, with recruitment now occurring at an estimated rate of one child every 20 hours. At least 65 children were killed in military bombardments targeting armed groups despite Petro’s earlier commitment to avoid operations that placed minors at risk.

Petro authorizes the extradition to Chile of ‘Larry Changa’, leader and co-founder of the Tren de Aragua. President Petro has authorised the extradition to Chile of Larry Amaury Álvarez Núñez, alias Larry Changa, a co-founder and senior leader of the transnational criminal organisation Tren de Aragua. The extradition order, formalised through Resolution 245 of 2026, sends Changa to face charges of criminal association and two kidnappings in Chile, where prosecutors accuse him of directing the gang’s expansion and operations. Changa, who was arrested in Colombia in 2024 after years on the run using a false identity, had unsuccessfully sought to avoid extradition by participating in the government’s ‘Total Peace’ initiative.

Petro reactiva la orden de extradición contra alias ‘Chiquito Malo’, líder del Clan del Golfo. President Petro has reactivated the extradition order against Jobanis de Jesús Ávila Villadiego, alias ‘Chiquito Malo’, the alleged leader of the Clan del Golfo, marking the effective collapse of the government’s peace dialogue with Colombia’s largest criminal organisation. Petro said he signed the decree after concluding that the group had not negotiated in good faith, despite months of exploratory talks and government concessions, including plans for temporary concentration zones and the suspension of some arrest warrants for lower-ranking members. If Chiquito Malo is captured, he will now face immediate extradition to the United States, where he is wanted on charges including international drug trafficking, narcoterrorism and providing material support to a designated terrorist organisation.

How armed groups in Colombia are using TikTok to recruit young people. The investigation documents how armed groups in Colombia, including the ELN, FARC dissident factions and the Clan del Golfo, are increasingly using TikTok to recruit children and young people by glamorising life within their organisations. The report identifies hundreds of videos showing armed fighters in uniform, weapons, music and messages portraying guerrilla and criminal groups as offering status, belonging, adventure and financial security, often targeting teenagers living in conflict-affected and impoverished rural areas. Human rights organisations and child protection experts warn that the content exploits social media algorithms to reach vulnerable children and normalises participation in armed groups, complementing more traditional recruitment methods based on coercion, threats and economic deprivation.

Can A New President’s Hard-Line Approach Stop the Spread of Coca in Colombia?Colombia’s president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella is expected to adopt a much tougher approach to coca cultivation and drug policy, representing a significant shift away from Gustavo Petro’s emphasis on voluntary crop substitution and rural development. His proposed strategy is expected to prioritise forced eradication, stronger security operations and intensified pressure on criminal organisations involved in drug trafficking.

With the support of the FBI, Military Forces found the coca complex of the Comuneros del Sur in Nariño: the drugs were hidden in underground pools. Colombian security forces have dismantled a major cocaine-processing complex in Nariño allegedly operated by the armed group Comuneros del Sur. The operation was carried out by the Army’s Counter-Narcotics and Transnational Threats Command, the Air Force and police intelligence units, with support from the FBI. Authorities located the facility in the rural area of Santa Cruz de Guachavés, where they found five structures, a storage centre and three underground pools containing 32,580 gallons of cocaine in production, along with 1.8 tonnes of cocaine, chemical inputs and industrial processing equipment. Military intelligence estimated that the complex had the capacity to produce around four tonnes of cocaine per month.

Cauca has eleven massacres in 2026 and concentrates the highest number of cases in the country. The department of Cauca has become the region with the highest number of massacres recorded in Colombia in 2026, with 11 cases and 58 victims so far this year, according to figures cited from Indepaz. The violence has been linked to clashes between armed groups competing for territorial control, including FARC dissident factions, the ELN and other criminal organisations seeking dominance over strategic corridors for drug trafficking, illegal mining and other illicit economies.

• Business, Human Rights, Environment and Indigenous peoples

Colombia’s copper boom overlaps with areas of environmental importance. Colombia’s emerging copper mining boom, driven by rising global demand for the metal for electric vehicles, renewable energy and electricity infrastructure, and warns that many proposed projects overlap with environmentally and socially sensitive areas. An investigation by Climate Tracker and El Espectador, using official mining data, found that of 210 active medium- and large-scale copper mining titles, at least 118 overlap with protected or environmentally important areas, while 94 intersect with Indigenous, Afro-Colombian or peasant community territories. The report notes that applications for copper mining concessions have increased dramatically over the past decade and that the National Mining Agency is actively promoting exploration in 14 high-potential areas.

Cundinamarca opens one of the largest solar parks in the country. Cundinamarca has inaugurated the Puerta de Oro Solar Park, one of the largest solar energy projects in Colombia and Latin America, marking a significant milestone in the country’s energy transition. Located between the municipalities of Guaduas and Chaguaní, the project has begun supplying 360 MWp of renewable electricity to Colombia’s National Interconnected System, enough to power more than 450,000 homes and contribute around 5% of the government’s national renewable energy target.

Colombia’s land agency claims elections triggered surge in land theft. Colombia’s National Land Agency (ANT) has reported a surge in attempted land theft targeting beneficiaries of the agrarian reform programme, which it says has been linked to armed groups, drug traffickers and former paramilitary networks seeking to reclaim properties distributed to victims of the armed conflict. The increase coincided with the 2026 election period and involved at least eight reported cases across the regions of Magdalena Medio, Meta and Córdoba, where armed men allegedly threatened, displaced and intimidated small farmers and community organisations. In one case, a family in Puerto López, Meta, was reportedly tortured in an attempt to force them from land previously linked to a drug trafficker from the Norte del Valle cartel.

De la Espriella’s plan to import the mega-prison model: closer to discourse than viability. President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella’s proposal to build ten mega-prisons inspired by Nayib Bukele’s security model, arguing that the plan is politically attractive but faces major practical, legal and financial obstacles. De la Espriella has pledged to tackle prison overcrowding and organised crime by replacing Colombia’s prison authority (INPEC) with a new force made up of retired military personnel, abolishing the Ministry of Justice and allowing private companies to build and operate the new prisons under long-term concessions.

• Women and Gender Based Violence

Supreme Court Leaves in Firm 41-Year Sentence to Major (r) for Murdering His Wife. Colombia’s Supreme Court has upheld the 41-year and eight-month prison sentence imposed on retired Army Major Oscar Iván Hernández Bermúdez for the 2011 murder of his former partner, Telma del Pilar Hernández Torres, and the attempted murder of her mother in Barrancabermeja. The court rejected all of the defence’s cassation arguments, concluding that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrated Hernández Bermúdez’s responsibility and that there had been no violations of due process during the trial.

Orphans from femicide were orphaned again with Petro. What will you do, Mr. De la Espriella?(The article is an opinion piece by Camilo Andrés Beltrán Ortiz, whose sister was murdered in a femicide in 2022, leaving behind two daughters). He argues that although Colombia’s 2025 Law on Orphans of Femicide was a landmark achievement, guaranteeing economic and psychosocial support for children whose mothers are killed, the outgoing government of Gustavo Petro has failed to implement it before leaving office. Beltrán warns that the absence of implementing regulations, a dedicated budget and a clearly designated lead institution, exacerbated by the dissolution of the Ministry of Equality, risks leaving the law ineffective and revictimising families. He also highlights the lack of an official registry of children orphaned by femicide, making it difficult to design effective public policy.

• Civil Society and Protests

Colombia: Care in the Crosshairs: Violence against Health Care in Conflict | 2025. The report documents a significant deterioration in the protection of healthcare during Colombia’s armed conflict in 2025, recording at least 116 incidents of violence affecting health workers, facilities, ambulances and patients, the highest annual total since monitoring began in 2017. Compiled by the Health Care in Danger initiative, it attributes most attacks to non-state armed groups, including the ELN, FARC dissident factions and the Clan del Golfo, although state security forces were also implicated in some cases. The incidents included threats, killings, kidnappings, forced displacement of medical personnel, looting of health facilities, restrictions on humanitarian access and the occupation or misuse of medical infrastructure, leaving many rural and conflict-affected communities without essential healthcare.

CEASE FIRE: Not so much, not so little. Indepaz’s report “Ni tanto ni tan poco” examines the security and peace situation inherited by Colombia’s incoming government, arguing that the country faces a complex reality that cannot be explained through either excessive optimism or alarmism. The analysis challenges simplistic narratives about the results of President Petro’s “Total Peace” policy, noting that while some dialogue initiatives produced limited progress, armed groups continued to expand territorial control, strengthen illicit economies and commit serious human rights violations. Indepaz highlights the persistence of violence against communities, social leaders, Indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations, as well as the fragmentation and growth of armed actors such as FARC dissident groups, the ELN and the Clan del Golfo. At the same time, it argues that abandoning dialogue entirely in favour of a purely military response would ignore the social and economic conditions that allow armed groups to recruit and maintain influence.

Demonstrations by workers of the Bogotá Metro affect mobility in the city: there are six Transmilenio stations without service. Workers involved in the construction of Bogotá’s first metro line staged protests on 8 July 2026, blocking part of Avenida Caracas and disrupting the operation of the TransMilenio transport system. The demonstrations were led by construction workers who alleged that they had not received outstanding payments for their labour on the metro project. The blockade affected one of the city’s main transport corridors, forcing the temporary suspension of service at six TransMilenio stations, including Calle 76, Flores, Calle 57, Marly, Avenida 39 and Calle 26, while authorities implemented diversions to reduce congestion.

• International and Domestic Politics

Colombia’s president-elect endorsed by Trump, suspends transition after alleging coup. Colombia’s political transition has been thrown into crisis after president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella suspended the formal handover process with the outgoing administration of Gustavo Petro. The move followed Petro’s refusal to recognise De la Espriella’s narrow election victory, with the outgoing president alleging electoral fraud without presenting evidence. De la Espriella accused Petro of attempting to undermine the constitutional transfer of power, called on the armed forces to uphold the constitution and urged the international community to monitor the situation ahead of his inauguration on 7 August. The suspension has halted the official empalme transition process, after Petro’s government also ordered officials to stop cooperating with the incoming administration.

Colombia’s Petro discusses anti-drug efforts, sanctions list with Trump. Outgoing Colombian President Petro said he held a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump focused on counter-narcotics cooperation and US sanctions imposed on Petro. According to the Colombian presidency, Petro informed Trump that Colombia had met a previously agreed target of voluntarily eradicating around 30,000 hectares of coca and was on course to eliminate 41,000 hectares by the end of 2026. Petro also asked Trump to remove sanctions that the US imposed on him in October 2025, with the Colombian government saying Trump promised to “do his best”.

Gustavo Petro does not recognize the victory of Abelardo de la Espriella: “The president of Colombia is Iván Cepeda”. The deepening political crisis in Colombia after outgoing President Gustavo Petro publicly refused to recognise president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella’s victory, insisting that defeated left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda is the country’s legitimate president. Petro alleges, without presenting conclusive evidence, that the 21 June election was tainted by algorithmic fraud, foreign interference and irregularities in the vote count, while allies have announced legal challenges seeking to annul the result. Petro’s position places him at odds with Iván Cepeda himself, who had previously accepted defeat and acknowledged De la Espriella as the winner, as well as with international election observers who found no evidence of fraud. Petro’s refusal to accept the outcome has intensified political polarisation, fuelled uncertainty over the transfer of power and prompted the incoming administration to accuse the outgoing government of attempting to undermine Colombia’s democratic institutions ahead of the 7 August inauguration.

De la Espriella announces the creation of a group of lawyers dedicated to denouncing irregularities of the Petro government. President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella has announced the creation of a team of lawyers tasked with investigating and filing legal complaints over alleged irregularities committed by the outgoing government of Gustavo Petro during its time in office. In a televised address, De la Espriella accused the administration of corruption, fiscal mismanagement, links to organised crime and contributing to the deterioration of Colombia’s healthcare system, although he did not present evidence to support these claims. He said the legal team had already begun submitting criminal, disciplinary and administrative complaints and pledged to publish new findings daily through the website of his political movement, Defenders of the Homeland.