The Colombia Briefing | 13th July

🗞️ At least 15,000 people have been affected by serious flooding in the departments of Casanare, Boyacá, and Arauca this week, with unprecedented heavy rains causing several rivers to overflow.

The rains have caused landslides and road closures as well as collapsed bridges and aqueducts, leaving many communities isolated from the rest of the country or without access to running water. Heavy rains began last Thursday and more rain is expected this week.

Meanwhile, the Caribbean Coast is experiencing temperatures of up to 40°C, and the city of Santa Marta has declared a public emergency due to the heat.

🗞️ Political transition continues to face obstacles as the outgoing and incoming governments trade accusations and threaten to ignite a constitutional crisis.

This week, President Gustavo Petro has made new claims of fraud in last month’s presidential elections, allegedly committed by manipulating the algorithms of electoral software.

Petro refuses to recognise the legitimacy of the incoming government, saying ‘the President of Colombia is Iván Cepeda’. Petro further claims that the conspiracy involves Black Cube — a controversial Israeli surveillance firm.

In response, President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella has called for suspension of the political handover meetings, accusing Petro of trying to stage a coup in order to stay in power and calling him a ‘tyrant’. Historically, handover meetings have often been paused in this way, and it does not affect the changeover of political power.

On Wednesday, a petition for annulment of the election was filed by a government ally, asking that the inauguration be suspended until resolution of the case, which could take years to resolve.

Nonetheless, 12 of 18 incoming cabinet ministers have now been appointed, and the first council of ministers was held in Barranquilla last week, setting out priorities and action plans for the various ministries and reviewing handover documents. After the meetings, De la Espriella highlighted priorities including security, corruption, and opportunities for young people and vulnerable groups.

🗞️ Meanwhile, the president-elect is planning his inauguration, announcing that the ceremony is to be held at a military base, rather than in front of Congress in Plaza Bolívar, Bogotá’s main square, as is tradition.

However, the President’s office informed De la Espriella's team that this change of custom would have to be approved by Congress: the petition has now been made for the ceremony to take place in a garrison in Popayán, capital of the department of Cauca.

🗞️ This week, the National Police Force was held responsible for the murder of Dilan Cruz, a protester killed in Bogotá during the 2019 National Strike against Iván Duque’s government.

An agent of the riot police, ESMAD, discharged a so-called ‘less-lethal weapon’ — a shotgun modified to fire a sack of lead shot — at Cruz, 18 years old, who later died from the resulting brain injuries, becoming an emblematic case of Colombia’s police violence during the protests of those years.

The agent directly responsible, Manuel Cubillos Rodríguez, was originally ordered to pay 14 million pesos to Cruz’s family, though the family had petitioned to remove the case from military jurisdiction — a petition which led to this new judgement.

The court ruled last week that the police had failed to properly train officers in the use of anti-riot weapons. Though the weapons are supposed to be fired in an arc or at the ground, the officer fired directly at Cruz’s head.