Bruce Mac Master resigned as head of Colombia’s main industry lobby on Thursday, 1 October. He said “multiple pressures” had hurt the association’s ability to act freely and fulfil its functions with autonomy. His exit follows weeks of tension between the National Business Association of Colombia (ANDI) and President Abelardo de la Espriella’s government. That same day, former senator María Fernanda Cabal announced she was leaving Centro Democrático, the right-wing party founded by former president Álvaro Uribe.
Government and business dialogue
Mac Master led ANDI for 13 years. In a letter to the association’s board, he said he had planned to work with the government on Colombia’s challenges, but unexpected events in recent weeks changed his decision. He said the board, its executive committee and he had tried to keep dialogue open. “All those attempts were fruitless,” he wrote, according to Semana. “We tried and did not succeed.”
Mac Master said he hoped his departure would help “recover the joint work between the national government and the business community.” He also said checks and balances were essential to the limits “that protect democracy,” Infobae reported. His resignation changed no law, tax or trade rule.
The dispute followed a reported instruction on 21 September telling ministers not to meet with Mac Master. Semana reported that the presidency said it would receive neither him nor anyone from ANDI while he held the post, and passed the instruction to all ministers. The Rio Times said it found no published written order; press reports, chiefly Semana, supplied the accounts of the veto.
ANDI’s board reconfirmed Mac Master as president until the end of 2027 in early September. The first test after his resignation, according to the report, is whether ministers resume meetings with the association. ANDI represents large companies in discussions with the government on taxes, the budget and regulation. The board must choose a new president, and reports on 1 October named no successor.
Members have also left the association. Last week, sugar mills Incauca and Providencia and firm Sucroal departed, Semana reported. Coca-Cola FEMSA left ANDI’s beverage chamber and said it was considering leaving the association entirely. Six days before resigning, Mac Master defended staying, writing that “ANDI is much more than its president.”
Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara called the resignation “an autonomous decision within ANDI” and said he had nothing to comment. Outside Congress, he described business associations as “spaces for dialogue” between companies and the government. “The more that communication flows and the easier it is, the better for both sides,” he said.
A party departure and a new movement
Cabal announced her departure in a social media livestream on Thursday evening. She spent 12 years in Congress with Centro Democrático’s backing but holds no congressional seat. She plans to present a political movement on Saturday, 3 October, and said the stakes include the 2027 regional elections.
On 4 August, Cabal filed a request for an orderly split from the party, seeking “an institutional, respectful and democratic exit” to address what she called doctrinal differences. “I waited for an answer because I considered this the right path,” she said, as quoted by El Tiempo. “To this day I have not received it,” she added. “Not acknowledging receipt is also an answer,” she told viewers, according to Caracol Radio.
Cabal argued that the party’s base is right-wing but its ideas had blurred, particularly in the last campaign. “I feel there is a natural prejudice against the word ‘right’ on the part of President Uribe,” she said. Centro Democrático selected Senator Paloma Valencia over Cabal and Paola Holguín as its candidate for the 2026 presidential race. Valencia finished third in the first round on 31 May.
Cabal said she remained grateful and respectful toward Uribe and her former colleagues, but substantive differences made her departure necessary. “I hold no grudge or resentment,” she told Blu Radio. “What I do feel, in a way, is ingratitude.” The party thanked her “for all these years of service to the Centro Democrático party and to Colombia,” wished her success and said, “Colombia will never be a lost cause.” Uribe posted: “For Dr María Fernanda Cabal, always respect.” Neither message criticised her.
Cabal said the new movement’s name wasn’t settled. Options she mentioned to Blu Radio included “Democracia y Libertad” (Democracy and Liberty) and “Guardianes de la Libertad” (Guardians of Liberty). “The intention is to be a party,” she said. She wants to choose candidates for the 2027 regional elections as a step toward the 2030 presidential race, and told Blu Radio she hopes to be a candidate. Her departure wasn’t a formal split of Centro Democrático because her request was never granted, and it didn’t change the party’s congressional seats.