Gustavo Petro

Rule Changes

Left office August 2026

Colombia's outgoing government signed a resolution that blocks new mining and oil projects across 483,000 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest, about 42 percent of the country's continental territory. The August 4 measure designates the Amazon biome as a renewable natural resources reserve.

Updated 5 days ago

Rule Changes

Serving final weeks as president; designated DEA 'priority target'; under 10 domestic investigations for election interference; will lose presidential immunity August 7

Colombia's 10-month election cycle ended June 21 when conservative lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella defeated leftist senator Iván Cepeda in the presidential runoff, 49.65% to 48.70% — a margin of fewer than 250,000 votes. His 12.9 million votes set a record for any Colombian presidential candidate. He takes office August 7.

Updated Jun 22

Rule Changes

Final year of term, facing collapsed negotiations

For five months, Colombia's largest drug cartel sat across from government negotiators in Qatar, working toward something unprecedented: a peace deal with an organization the United States had just labeled a terrorist group. On February 4, the Gulf Clan walked away from the table, accusing President Gustavo Petro of betraying the talks by handing their leader's name to the Trump administration as a joint military target.

Updated May 26

Force in Play

Condemned US operation, deployed troops to Venezuela border, requested UN Security Council meeting

Delta Force operators captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife in Caracas at 2 a.m. on January 3 as explosions rocked the capital and helicopters evacuated them to the USS Iwo Jima, bound for New York. By Saturday afternoon, Maduro arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn—the first American military capture of a sitting head of state since Manuel Noriega in 1989.

Updated May 19