Colombia Pulls Museum Exhibits as Cabinet Turmoil Deepens

Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside Bogota's National Museum on Wednesday, October 21, as riot police guarded the entrance. They protested President Abelardo de la Espriella's decision to strip dozens of exhibits from the museum’s halls, including material on social movements, feminist and LGBTQ+ activism, and Colombia's history of political violence.

"I find it outrageous that they want to erase part of our history," said Azul Riascos, a history student. Riascos said the government was promoting a vision of Colombia as exclusively white, Catholic and Spanish-speaking, leaving out Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ+ communities.

The protest fell on the same day the president's government lost its interior minister. Rodrigo Lara announced his exit Wednesday night, after Congress rejected the General Budget of the Nation bill. Two crises. One afternoon.

Who Is Affected

De la Espriella, described as a conservative ally of Donald Trump, announced what he called a cultural "counterrevolution." The week before, he said he wanted to keep cultural institutions from being taken over by what he calls "atheist social communism." Civil rights groups, artists and students called the move censorship and warned that it could erase parts of the country's history.

The changes extend beyond one museum. Culture Minister Paola Holguin said the government is reviewing and redesigning exhibitions and curatorial practices at other museums overseen by her ministry. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also renamed a courtyard honoring an Indigenous leader, describing the change as part of the president's campaign against "woke" ideology.

Critics say the government is following an outside script. Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, director for the Andes at the Washington Office on Latin America, said Colombia's approach reflects a broader trend among Trump allies copying US political narratives and strategies. She added that Trump's cooperation with allied Latin American governments on security and counternarcotics also had an ideological dimension.

"These are imported narratives about terrorism and about being 'woke,'" anthropologist Arturo Sanabria said at the protest, calling the approach a form of neocolonial intervention. Political scientist Estefania Cardozo put it this way: "The government is making serious efforts in a cultural battle that probably doesn't exist. It is inventing one to erase identities that cannot be erased because they already exist."

The dispute echoes a fight in Washington. In July, a White House report described leaders of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History as radical activists and ordered signs placed outside the museum saying some exhibits were inaccurate. Nearly three months later, the signs still hadn't gone up. Museum director Anthea Hartig told Congress the report "does not fairly or accurately characterise the full body of work at the museum."

A Cabinet in Churn

The budget failure exposed weakness within the government. Congress rejected the bill because of an error in its legislative procedure. Bloomberg reported that the setback raised questions about the government's ability to advance its fiscal agenda and reassure investors about the nation's finances.

De la Espriella thanked Lara on X: "I thank Dr. Rodrigo Lara Restrepo for his service to Colombia." He named Alejandro Ordóñez, a former inspector general and current Colombian ambassador to the OAS, as Lara's replacement. "His experience, character, and career will be fundamental in facing the great challenges of our nation," the president wrote. Until officials formalize Ordóñez's appointment, Justice Minister Iván Cancino will handle the Interior Ministry's duties.

Lara served 76 days. Some political sectors criticized him over his relationship with lawmakers and the budget setback. His exit also coincided with debate in the joint First Committees on a bill to bring armed groups before justice, part of the government's effort to build a framework for illegal armed groups and replace Petro's failed policy of total peace. ColombiaOne called the Interior Ministry the most important portfolio in the state's order of precedence and said Lara was the highest-ranking official to leave De la Espriella's government.

He wasn't the first to go. Viviane Morales resigned from the Education Ministry on September 2, before completing a month in office, citing personal reasons. Ricardo Valencia led the national statistics agency, DANE, for a few weeks before the government terminated his appointment. Magda Yolima Amaya quit as general secretary of the information and technology ministry days after starting. Hannah Escobar left the medicines directorate at the Health Ministry, and Carlos Rene Montoya lasted three days as president of Colpensiones. German Miranda left the National Fire Department by presidential order, after De la Espriella asked Lara on October 3 to terminate the appointment, saying he was aware of facts that needed clarification by the competent authorities.

Why This Matters: A museum is a public institution, and its displays reflect who a country chooses to remember. The removed exhibits covered feminist and LGBTQ+ activism and Colombia's political violence, histories that matter to communities with a stake in being seen. When a government orders them off the walls, those most affected are people whose stories were finally told in a national space. Critics say the effort imports a foreign culture war rather than responding to a domestic one. Meanwhile, the revolving cabinet door and failed budget bill raise a separate concern: a government that can't pass a spending plan or keep its ministers in place has less capacity to deliver the basic services Colombians depend on. Both stories turn on the same question of public accountability.