Bogotá, Colombia – Authorities in Colombia confirmed the discovery of the body of Mateo Pérez Rueda, an independent journalist and Political Science student at the National University in Medellín, who had traveled to Briceño, Antioquia, to document the security situation in that region, where the 36th Front of the dissidents of the former FARC operates.

The body has been released to the family following dialogues between organized crime groups and humanitarian organizations, including the ICRC. The family wasn’t allowed to enter the zone either.

“He was murdered by Jhon Edison Chalá Torrejano, from the Darío Gutiérrez front, which is a divided group from the 36th Front, fragmented into various criminal groups,” stated President Gustavo Petro through his X account.

The 25-year-old reporter had become an important voice for the communities of northern Antioquia, founding and serving as the director of the digital media outlet El Confidente de Yarumal.

In this role, he covered issues related to organized crime, administrative corruption, public order, security, and local politics in municipalities where organized crime and illegal armed groups operate actively, such as Valdivia, and Ituango. Because of this, he faced legal prosecutions, conciliation summons, and other hostile acts against him.

The country entered into an active search for Mateo following the report of his disappearance on May 5 in the rural hamlet of Palmichal, where local residents and relatives of the victim had reported that the journalist had been murdered by members of the criminal group led by alias Calarcá Córdoba.

Alias Calarcá is a guerrilla leader participating in President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” negotiations, and his arrest warrant was suspended by the government to facilitate talks with the armed group.

According to local media, Mateo contacted several officials seeking someone to accompany him to a rural area to get information about the ongoing armed conflict in the region.

Reports state that authorities and neighbors reportedly recommended that he should not leave the urban center, as no one, even government officials, have guaranteed safety going into these sectors; the journalist reportedly ignored these warnings and set off on his motorcycle.

Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez initially handled the case as a disappearance, but Mateo’s loved ones pointed out that it could be a kidnapping and murder just a few hours after losing contact with him, when his vehicle, wallet, cell phone, and keys were found abandoned. 

Sánchez also offered a 300 million COP (around $80,500 USD) reward for information leading to those responsible for Mateo’s suspected murder. 

This situation also highlights the ongoing risks for those practicing journalism in Colombia, mostly in rural territories and conflict zones. 

According to the FLIP, a press freedom foundation, since 2022, armed groups have attacked the press 387 times, using threats and displacement to force silence.

Featured image: Mateo Pérez Rueda

Image credit: FLIP

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Bogotá, Colombia – Noticias Caracol, one of the largest media outlets in Colombia, released a statement on March 20 regarding an investigation into two of its lead journalists, Ricardo Orrego and Jorge Alfredo Vargas, following allegations of sexual abuse against some of their female colleagues.

The allegations sent shockwaves through the media industry, in part because of the reputation both men had built over their careers.

For decades, Orrego was the voice of Colombian sports, leading coverage of multiple World Cups and other international sporting competitions, while Vargas had been the charismatic anchor of Caracol’s prime-time news show for over 20 years. 

Days after announcing the investigation, the network sent a follow-up message: both men had been removed from their positions despite them denying the allegations. Soon after, Orrego published a statement from his lawyer on X, saying the firing was “one sided” and that he would comply with any investigation. Vargas also published a statement saying he was stepping away from Caracol while saying he maintained “respect” and “good behavior” while working as a journalist.

The firings marked a pivotal moment for Colombian newsrooms and inspired dozens of female journalists to come forward and share their own experiences of sexual harassment, sparking a massive wave of solidarity under the hashtags #YoTeCreoColega (I believe you, colleague) and #MeTooColombia, while also exposing a deeply-rooted culture of harassment and abuse.

Fear: a reason for sharing an open secret

Before social media changed the news landscape, the men and women appearing on Colombian television screens to report the news became trusted icons for aspiring journalists, including myself. 

As their star-power rose, questioning them became more difficult. 

Longtime Colombian journalist Yolanda Ruiz wrote in her column for Spanish newspaper El País that the industry “has prioritized the ratings of its stars over the dignity of female journalists,” creating a “throne of impunity that is finally beginning to crumble.”

“It cannot be a surprise when the ‘open secret’ finally explodes,” she wrote. 

The harassment isn’t just contained to the television industry either. According to a 2020 study by the Observatorio de la Democracia at Universidad de los Andes, which surveyed 158 female reporters, six out of 10 participants reported being victims of gender-based violence in their workplaces, while a staggering 77.9% stated they were aware of this kind of abuse against their female colleagues.

Several journalists (in this case, regardless of gender) have also claimed to be victims of workplace bullying, stemming not only from bosses and power figures but also from their own colleagues. 

Beyond the situations of workplace and sexual harassment, journalists in Colombia also face low salaries and severe labor instability. According to a study by Universidad del Rosario, which surveyed 277 journalists, nearly half of the participants (137) stated they would leave the profession for another field if given the chance. 

This reveals a toxic environment where intimidation was normalized at every level of the newsroom, creating a cross-sectional pattern of abuse that silenced those trying to build a career or keep their current positions within the industry.

Same pattern, different workplaces

Following the Caracol journalists’ harassment allegations, Colombian journalists Paula Bolívar, Juanita Gómez, Mónica Rodríguez, Laura Palomino, and Catalina Botero began the #MeTooColombia movement. 

They were inspired by the #MeToo hashtag that arose in the U.S. in 2017 following revelations of sexual abuse by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. 

The group of reporters also established a dedicated communication channel (yotecreocolega@gmail.com) for victims to share their stories of abuse within newsrooms. The response was overwhelming: in just a week, they received at least 200 emails with testimonies ranging from 1993 to 2025.

In the case of Juanita Gómez and Catalina Botero, both prominent journalists who previously worked at Noticias Caracol and who currently serve at weekly news magazine Semana and state-owned radio station RTVC respectively, the initiative started by sharing on social media their own experiences.

Through her account on X, Gómez detailed aggressions she suffered from a well-known anchor while on an international assignment in 2015.

“I would tell her that having to force a journalist/presenter off you, several times and with pushing, so he wouldn’t kiss you in an elevator… is not normal and should never have happened,” Gómez wrote.

“I would also tell her to talk to her female colleagues, hopefully many of them, because they have much worse stories, and surely together they would find a way to report the harasser.” 

This encouraged other women who worked at TV channel RCN, newspaper El Espectador, and other Colombian media, to share their own experiences.

Some questions began to surface: if this is a systemic pattern across the entire media industry, why has only one outlet spoken out publicly? And more importantly, why is this reckoning happening only now?

The fact that Juan Roberto Vargas, the director of Noticias Caracol, has publicly addressed the situation inside the media outlet as “painful” and “sad” marks a significant first step, one that directors of other major media outlets should follow.

His commitment to taking “decisive measures” sets a precedent in an industry where silence has long been the standard response to internal abuse.

The end of an era: Breaking the cycle of impunity

Eight years ago, Lina Castillo publicly accused Hollman Morris—the current director of the public radio broadcaster RTVC—of sexual and workplace harassment. 

The journalist’s public allegations were turned against her, however, after Morris filed a defamation complaint, arguing her accusations were damaging his reputation. 

Driven by the #YoTeCreoColega movement, a group of more than 40 women, including journalists, lawyers, and writers, joined together to sign an open letter questioning the case against Castillo and denouncing Morris’s legal actions. They argue that his goal is not to seek justice, but “to silence the women who report him.”

In March, following pressure from social organizations, the case was transferred to a higher court to ensure “gender sensitive analysis.” 

Additionally, Jineth Bedoya, an award-winning journalist who became a symbol of the fight against gender-based violence following her kidnapping, torture, and rape at the hands of right-wing paramilitaries in 2000, recently took the issue of harassment in newsrooms to lawmakers.  

On March 25, Bedoya testified before Congress, calling on lawmakers to end the “pacts of silence” that have protected predators in newsrooms for decades.

“A group of women journalists is here today to remind you that, for decades, women in the media have had to carry the burden of gender-based violence,” she stated. “No more pacts of silence in newsrooms. Today is not the time to remain silent.”

The #MeTooColombia movement is also seeking legal recourse for victims. The Attorney General’s Office reported over 50 complaints of sexual and workplace harassment within the media industry in less than a week after the initial allegations involving journalists from Noticias Caracol came to light.

Victims were encouraged to report abuse to a special email set up by the Prosecutor’s Office: denuncia.acoso@fiscalia.gov.co. 

The tip of the iceberg?

On April 7, the Ministry of Labor published a document detailing immediate measures imposed against Noticias Caracol. This followed an inspection of Caracol TV and BLU Radio facilities, which could potentially be extended to other media companies.

“There are clear signs of a possible failure in the mechanisms for prevention, attention, and investigation of workplace sexual harassment within the company,” the statement pointed out.

The investigation also revealed that one of the accused, Ricardo Orrego, had received prior warnings in 2023 and 2025. However, there are no documents identifying the complainants behind them or any evidence of a structured disciplinary procedure.

Regarding the disgraced journalist, the Ministry ordered a “documentary reconstruction process” for the warnings issued to Orrego. The goal is to “identify the original complaints, the departments involved, and the reasons why no formal disciplinary procedures were ever carried out.”

At the same time, the inspection uncovered 15 new complaints of potential sexual harassment. These cases had remained invisible, either because victims didn’t report them or because the company simply failed to handle them through the proper channels.

While Caracol’s decision to go public marks a rare and necessary first step, the Ministry’s ongoing oversight serves as a reminder that this is an open investigation—and a warning for the rest of the industry.

Hear from the women

As this report focuses on a culture of silence within Colombian media, Latin America Reports reached out to several victims of harassment directly. 

These journalists shared their stories on the condition of anonymity to protect their safety and professional careers. 

Their testimonies offer a look at the cases that have remained hidden for years. 

Giving a voice to these experiences is essential to breaking the cycle of harassment and silence, prioritizing the human experience over the data:

The abusive touching from that older man—who claimed to be the owner of a renowned media outlet—left me completely paralyzed. 

He approached my friend and I when we were just young women, speaking in a sickening tone. ‘Do you want to be part of my team? Please, don’t hesitate to contact me,’ he told her, while his hand kept moving all over her body and his mouth was disturbingly close to hers.

“You should remain silent and avoid creating unnecessary drama… It’s for the best,” the HR leader told me when I tried to ask for help regarding my abusive boss. I tried so hard to remain calm, but the harassment became my shadow.

He would call me desperately at any hour, screaming and berating me for no reason. My phone became a source of terror. I stopped sleeping, and when I finally had a moment of peace, my anxiety wouldn’t let me rest. I found myself waking up every few minutes, trembling, just to check my screen, waiting for the next blow.

I decided to talk to him man-to-man as a last resort. He looked at me with a smirk and said: ‘You have to understand that humiliations are part of the daily grind here. Only those of us who live in the newsroom know how to truly value them.’ Then, he softened his voice: ‘Don’t worry, you have a brilliant future ahead. You are on the right track.’

But his ‘mentorship’ was a lie. Just minutes later, I overheard him mocking me to a colleague, calling me a ‘crying baby’ who was unable to perform even the simplest tasks (even though I was doing my work and his). I decided to give up. Nobody ever listened. Or worse, they were spectators of the mistreatment and chose to look the other way.

Being an intern arriving in a newsroom is a dream come true. You watch those leading the day, seeing them on a pedestal, unaware of the power dynamics hidden behind the cameras.

The eyes shining and the hunger to ‘reach the top of the world’ are just a few steps away, but you’re new in an industry that is not as you imagine. Humiliations, screams, and rude remarks, all of them, are the daily meal.

You can see everyone getting nervous, but you can also feel the envy among colleagues—reporters pushing others away, making fun of them, or giving them derogatory nicknames to ruin their reputation. They are always on the lookout for their failures… It’s like a high school horror movie about bullying.

All of a sudden, the first message arrives on your phone: “Your ass is amazing, can I have a bite?” It comes from a colleague, much older than you, who has been leading the top stories for years and has falsely offered to share his professional secrets with you.

You’re nobody. You have just arrived at your first job—what can you really do? Report it to the director? He doesn’t even know who you are yet; you haven’t even had the chance to show what you’re capable of. It’s better to say nothing, even if each time the messages get worse and you feel more and more repulsed.

It’s part of ‘building character,’ was always heard.

Featured image: Ricardo Orrego and Jorge Alfredo Vargas

Image credit: David Gonzalez for Latin America Reports

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Bogotá, Colombia — President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday declared three days of national mourning in Colombia following a military plane crash on Monday which killed 69 soldiers. 

The accident occurred at the Puerto Leguízamo airport in Putumayo, a region located in the southwest of the country, involving a C-130 Hercules aircraft normally used to transport troops and humanitarian aid to remote regions.

According to the latest official reports, at least 69 soldiers and crew members were killed in the disaster. The military transport plane, belonging to the Colombian Aerospace Force (FAC), was carrying over 120 people when it smashed onto the grounds of a nearby farm just after takeoff. 

During the period of national mourning, Petro confirmed that flags will fly at half-mast and military honors will be given to the victims of the tragedy and their families.

Many households are grieving the loss of their children, but one family in particular mourns the loss of two: brothers Santiago and Daniel Esteban Arias. Originally from Puerto Libertador, in the Caribbean department of Córdoba.

Monday’s crash is one of the worst aviation tragedies in the country’s recent history. In 2016, a plane carrying players from Brazil’s Chapecoense soccer team crashed into the mountains outside Medellín, killing over 70 people. 

In Puerto Leguízamo, survivors of the military plane crash were transferred to specialized medical centers across the country.

Authorities are investigating the causes of the accident but have dismissed preliminary claims of an attack by guerrilla forces active in the region. 

The Mayor of Puerto Leguízamo, Luis Emilio Bustos Morales, told local media, including Blu Radio and Noticias RCN, that “they have many hypotheses.” 

He noted that among them, “there is talk that they were carrying too much weight” or “that the runway was too short for them.”

During the emergency, residents used their own motorcycles to evacuate the survivors before official help arrived; some of them were also injured by ammunition exploding in the flames. 

The medical center known as ‘Hospital Militar Central’, located in the capital Bogotá, confirmed that a local rescue worker is among those being treated there.

President Petro expressed his gratitude through his X account, stating that “this is how a nation is built.” He thanked the local citizens who rushed to save the survivors. He also highlighted the soldiers who ran to save others during the disaster, calling their actions a “beautiful proof of love and solidarity.”

The painful moments were detailed by soldier Mauro Peñaranda, who survived and described the scene as the aircraft went down to local media outlets: “It was leaning to one side, and there was a weird noise (…) the plane was creaking,” he told RTVC. Mauro also stated that they did not receive clear instructions from the cockpit during the situation. 

“I honestly don’t even know how I got out of there… I just jumped and got out,” he said.

The governments of Ecuador, Panama, France, and the United States, among others, also offered their condolences to the Colombian military forces and the victims’ families.

Featured image: Photo of Colombian military plane crash site in Puerto Leguízamo on March 23, 2026.

This article originally appeared on The Bogotá Post and was republished with permission.

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Bogotá, Colombia – On March 8, for the first time in Colombia’s history, an artificial intelligence candidate appeared on ballot papers across the country. 

Gaitana IA (AI) ran for the Indigenous seat in the Senate and the House of Representatives in the northern state of Sucre.

While Gaitana did not win a seat in either of the country’s legislative bodies, it has sparked debate about the role of AI in Colombian politics.

With the ballots counted, Gaitana won a total of under 3,000 votes – less than 2% of the total votes for the Indigenous seat – suggesting that many people remain skeptical of this new digital approach.

Many questions have emerged surrounding Gaitana, such as why the Registraduría—the Colombian entity in charge of validating and accepting candidates—permitted this unprecedented candidacy, or what the intentions were behind the AI.

“Many local media outlets talked about an AI going to Congress, but that is not the case; they are humans leading the project,” Gaitana’s co-founder, Natalia Aase, told Latin America Reports. 

“It is actually a consensus tool developed by our community members, between 14 and 25 years old, from the Senú community of Reparo Torrente, in Coveñas,” she explained.

Rather than planning for the AI to assume office, Gaitana was devised as a democratic experiment underpinned by real human candidates

Aase detailed how the platform was designed to work: Colombian citizens could subscribe through a link to virtually participate and propose various debates regarding topics such as healthcare, women’s rights, and more. These interactions would also feed the AI database.

Once an initiative reached a collective consensus, the people occupying the seats in Congress would “decide the direction of the proposed laws.”

The two humans represented by Gaitana were Carlos Redondo Rincón, a Mechatronics Engineer from the Senú community, who was running for Senate, and Luz Rincón, an Embera-Katio Indigenous sociologist, who was seeking a seat in the House of Representatives.

The co-founder of Gaitana also revealed that the team conducted deep research into global democratic models, such as the one in Norway, and compared them with their own community dynamics.

As the research advanced, the team found that their community in Senú had already established a model of social interaction that worked well, prompting them to launch a digital project modeled on their own practices.  

This meant digitizing their traditional way of reaching a consensus; in the Senú community, men, women, and youth gather around tables to discuss specific topics, such as women’s health or local fishing.

“Gaitana IA is not a generative AI; it is a participatory AI. What does that mean? Well, it is not ChatGPT. Instead, it takes the information provided by the users and organizes it,” pointed out Aase. “Transparency and security are the most important things for us; that is why we use blockchain technology—a system of blocks—to power this platform.”

According to Aase, the project was born from a motivation to prevent corruption and explained that with ‘Gaitana AI’, the decisions are not made by a single person but must be approved by at least 100 people. 

“You might be able to manipulate one individual, but you cannot manipulate a hundred if you don’t even know who they are,” she concluded. 

This article originally appeared on The Bogotá Post and was republished with permission.

Featured image description: Gaitana IA

Featured image credit: @Gaitana_IA via X

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Bogotá, Colombia – On March 8, Colombians elected members of the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as choosing their preferred candidates in three presidential primaries for the left, right, and center coalitions. 

The elections, which coincided with International Women’s Day, saw a record number of female candidates partake as well as a woman, Paloma Valencia, winning the most votes in the primaries in a historic first.

But with women’s representation in Congress stagnating, analysts say there is still much progress to be had in the way of gender equality in Colombian politics. 

Following the March 8 elections, two women emerged as the favorite presidential candidates in their primary coalitions: Paloma Valencia, representative for the Centro Democrático (Democratic Center) party, won a landslide victory in the right-wing coalition, while ex-Bogotá mayor Claudia López took the lead in the center.

“We women have to work twice as hard so that people can actually understand that we are doing our job. Female leadership is normally interpreted as being ‘too bossy,’ and then, we are restricted to certain areas,” said Valencia during an interview with Latin America Reports.

Despite Valencia receiving more than 3 million votes, soaring past the other 15 candidates in the primaries, female representation in Congress still stopped short of expectations.

“Female leadership is recognized for its power to mobilize, collaborate, and build bridges; it tends to be a much more transformational type of leadership, oriented toward motivation, building consensus,” Nathalie Méndez, associate professor in government at Bogotá’s Universidad de los Andes, told Latin America Reports.

But the success of a single individual isn’t enough. For the first time in history, female candidacies reached 40.9% of the total lists registered for Congress, according to a report by the Interior Ministry. 

However, despite being the election with the highest female participation, this surge was not reflected in the results. For the 2026-2030 period, there were 32 women elected to the Senate (31.4%) and 53 women elected to the House of Representatives (28.96%). This marks a total of 85 women out of 286 seats, representing only 29.7% of the total Congress.

Underscoring the lack of material advances in representation is the fact that  the exact same number of women were elected to Congress in the 2022 elections. 

“Women don’t receive the same resources as men, nor are they placed in positions with real chances to win the elections. Consequently, the rise of female candidates remains nothing more than a figure on paper,” explained Méndez.

Colombian society is also deeply conservative, creating a cultural environment where patriarchy persists and invalidates women in all spheres.

“What we see in Colombia is that a dual-type barrier persists, which I call institutional and cultural,” said Méndez. 

These barriers are especially pronounced in certain provinces, such as Caldas and Quindío, where not a single woman represents their communities in the House of Representatives.

“In local politics, financing is tied to political machineries and regional elites that are still deeply entrenched in male leadership. Breaking this panorama remains very difficult for women,” claimed Méndez. 

In addition, some party lists were closed, meaning people vote for a party logo rather than a specific person. With this, some voters are focused primarily on the party’s brand and could be unaware of the specific women’s names on the list, potentially making female candidates more invisible.

“Women are required, for example, to demonstrate much more experience, to hold more degrees, and even after proving they are just as good as men, cultural prejudices continue to surface,” Méndez declared. 

Yet the most-voted candidate for the entire Congress was Nadia Blel. The Conservative Party leader secured a massive victory, winning over 178,000 votes and becoming the highest individual vote-getter in the 2026 elections. Her success on March 8 proves that while progress for women overall appears to be blocked, individual female leaders are winning their own battles and shattering expectations at the polls.

“What this represents is that there are women who have managed to break the glass ceiling through their own trajectories or strong political legacies, but that is not enough to change the Colombian political culture,” added the researcher.

These elections showed that having names on a ballot is not enough; the real victory will come when every region in Colombia allows women to occupy political spaces on par with men.

Featured image description: International Women’s Day march in Colombia, 2024

Featured image credit: Wikimedia Commons

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