| Area Total | 1,138,910 sq km |
| Climate | tropical along coast and eastern plains; cooler in highlands |
| Natural Resources | petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, copper, emeralds, hydropower |
| Imports | $44.24 billion (2017 est.) partners: US 26.3%, China 19.3%, Mexico 7.5%, Brazil 5%, Germany 4.1% (2017) |
| Government | presidential republic |
| Capital | Bogota |
| Population | 48.2 million (July 2018 est.) |
| Ethnicity | mestizo and white 84.2%, Afro-Colombian (includes mulatto, Raizal, and Palenquero) 10.4%, Amerindian 3.4%, Romani <.01, unspecified 2.1% (2005 est.) |
| Language | Spanish (official) |
| Exports | $39.48 billion (2017 est.) partners: US 28.5%, Panama 8.6%, China 5.1% (2017) |
News about Colombia
- Fernando Botero Takes on Singapore with Landmark Exhibitionby Richard Emblin on February 17, 2026
Singapore has never been shy about scale. But this season, the city’s appetite for monumentality takes on a distinctly Latin American accent. For the first time, the work of Colombian master Fernando Botero makes his Singapore debut with the largest exhibition of his work ever showcased in Asia. Spanning galleries, inter-active theatres and extensive […]
- Colombia’s Petro Defies Court Suspension of Minimum Wage Hikeby The City Paper Staff on February 16, 2026
Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Sunday mounted a forceful defence of his government’s 23.7% minimum wage increase for 2026, pledging to issue a temporary decree to keep the so-called “vital wage” in place after the Council of State provisionally suspended the original measure. Speaking in a televised address on Feb. 15, Petro said that while
- Camilo Torres: Colombia surrenders remains of legendary “guerrilla priest” 60 years after his deathby Adriaan Alsema on February 16, 2026
Colombia’s Missing Persons Search Unit (UBPD) surrendered the remains of legendary “guerrilla priest” Camilo Torres to his family and friends on Sunday, exactly 60 years after his death. A few dozen people were invited to the National University’s Cristo Maestro chapel for a two-part ceremony in which UBPD director Luz Janeth Forero formally […]
- State Council suspends Colombia’s 23.7% minimum wage hikeby Adriaan Alsema on February 13, 2026
Colombia’s State Council provisionally suspended a 23.7% minimum wage hike that was decreed by President Gustavo Petro to secure a living wage for minimum wage workers in December. The country’s top administrative court additionally gave the Petro administration a week to issue a new “transitional” decree that will be valid until the Council of […]
- Colombia steps up protection measures for Petro amid mounting plot fearsby Adriaan Alsema on February 12, 2026
Colombia’s defense minister ordered the security forces and intelligence agencies to step up measures to protect President Gustavo Petro in response to an alleged plot to plant drugs in his car. In a post on social media platform X, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said that he had ordered the commanders of the military and the The post Colombia steps up […]
- Global airlines return to Venezuela, Avianca restores Bogotá–Caracas flightby Richard Emblin on February 12, 2026
International airlines are rapidly re-establishing services to Venezuela, signalling a cautious but commercially significant reopening of the country’s aviation market. On Thursday, February 12, Colombia’s Avianca resumed a daily direct flights between Bogotá and Caracas. The move restores one of the most important air corridors in northern South […]
- Colombia declares emergency in response to widespread floodsby Adriaan Alsema on February 12, 2026
President Gustavo Petro declared an emergency in large parts of Colombia in response to rains that flooded vast areas and threaten to overflood dams. The emergency was declared in all provinces on the Caribbean coast and the Choco province, which has both a Pacific and a Caribbean coast. According to disaster management agency UNGRD, heavy The post […]
- Colombia’s Blueberry Boom Is Growing Fast, but Exports Lagby The City Paper Staff on February 12, 2026
Colombia’s goldenberry symbolized the country’s push into high-value fruit exports. Now, it faces a turf war at home from a fruit with far greater global recognition: the blueberry. While blueberry cultivation has expanded rapidly across Colombia over the past decade, producers say the industry remains far from becoming a fully fledged export […]
- Southwest Colombia indigenous guard thwarts kidnapping of senatorby Adriaan Alsema on February 11, 2026
Indigenous security forces were able to thwart the kidnapping of a coalition senator in southwest Colombia on Tuesday. Aida Quilcue, a senator and indigenous leader, and her security detail disappeared from the radar around noon while traveling through the east of the Cauca province. Following her release three hours later, Quilcue told press that she The […]
- Extreme flooding in northern Colombia triggers humanitarian crisisby The City Paper Staff on February 10, 2026
Unseasonal heavy rains and severe flooding across northern Colombia have created a full-blown humanitarian crisis, displacing hundreds of thousands, destroying homes and farmland, and pushing local infrastructure and health systems to breaking point. The disaster has hit hardest in the department of Córdoba, where officials say 156,000 people have been […]
- Petro “fatally injured” Colombia’s efforts to make peace, say ELN rebelsby Adriaan Alsema on February 10, 2026
A recent order to carry out airstrikes on guerrilla group ELN “fatally injured” efforts to resume peace talks between Colombia’s longest-living guerrilla group and the administration of President Gustavo Petro, the rebels said Tuesday. Petro said last week that he ordered an airstrike on a suspected guerrilla position in the northeastern Catatumbo […]
- Colombia’s prosecution to indict state oil chief on corruption chargesby Adriaan Alsema on February 10, 2026
Colombia’s prosecution said it will indict Ecopetrol CEO Ricardo Roa on election fraud and influence peddling charges. The accusations filed by the prosecution’s anti-corruption unit are the result of two separate investigations into corruption allegations leveled against the director of the country’s state oil company. The campaign finance charge The […]
- Petro and Trump: What next in U.S.–Colombia relations?by Richard Emblin on February 9, 2026
Nearly a week after Donald Trump hosted Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, at the White House, calm has returned to a bilateral relationship that only recently appeared headed for rupture. The insults have stopped. The social media theatrics have faded. Diplomacy, not spectacle, is back in charge. This alone tells us that both governments have agreed
- Santiago Gallon, infamous Uribe associate, assassinated in Mexicoby Adriaan Alsema on February 6, 2026
Santiago Gallon, one of the most infamous business associates of Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe, has been assassinated in Mexico, local media reported. Gallon, a financier of paramilitary organization AUC and alleged drug trafficker, was reportedly shot and killed in a restaurant in Toluca, a city in the south of Mexico. According to journalist […]
- All That Glitters Isn’t Trump Nor Petroby Richard Emblin on February 5, 2026
Colombian President Gustavo Petro appeared on Tuesday to melt into the gilded woodwork of the Oval Office, wearing a gold tie and an uncharacteristically sober dark suit. Seated beside U.S. President Donald Trump, the two-hour meeting appeared—at least on the surface—to be a cordial encounter between political adversaries entrenched on opposite sides of […]



