Colombia Museum Cuts, Budget Defeat Shake Cabinet

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella announced plans to remove dozens of exhibits from the National Museum as protests over the changes coincided with Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara’s departure, following Congress’s rejection of the General Budget of the Nation bill. The exhibits cover social movements, feminist and LGBTQ+ activism, and Colombia’s political violence. Civil rights groups, artists and students call the removals censorship and warn that parts of the country’s history could disappear.

Control of the exhibits

Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the National Museum in downtown Bogota on Wednesday, October 21. Riot police guarded the entrance. History student Azul Riascos said, “I find it outrageous that they want to erase part of our history.” Riascos said the government was promoting a vision of Colombia as exclusively white, Catholic and Spanish-speaking, shutting out Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ+ communities.

De la Espriella called his effort a cultural “counterrevolution.” The previous week, he said he wanted to stop cultural institutions from falling under what he calls “atheist social communism.” Culture Minister Paola Holguin said the government was reviewing and redesigning exhibitions and curatorial practices at other museums overseen by her ministry. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also changed the name of a courtyard that had honoured an Indigenous leader, presenting the move as part of the president’s campaign against “woke” ideology.

Anthropologist Arturo Sanabria called the government’s approach “imported narratives about terrorism and about being 'woke,'” and described it during Wednesday’s protest as a form of neocolonial intervention. Political scientist Estefania Cardozo said, “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.”

Political influence and precedent

Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, director for the Andes at the Washington Office on Latin America, said Colombia’s approach reflected a broader trend of Trump allies copying US political narratives and strategies. She said US President Donald Trump’s cooperation with allied Latin American governments on security and counternarcotics efforts also carried an ideological dimension.

The dispute recalled Trump’s criticism of Washington museums, particularly those linked to the Smithsonian Institution. In July, the White House issued a report calling leaders of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History radical activists and ordered signs outside the museum saying some exhibits were inaccurate. Nearly three months later, the museum still hadn't installed the signs. Museum director Anthea Hartig told Congress the White House report “does not fairly or accurately characterise the full body of work at the museum.”

Budget defeat and cabinet change

Congress rejected the General Budget of the Nation bill because of an error in its legislative procedure. Bloomberg reported that the setback over next year’s budget raised questions about the government’s ability to advance its fiscal agenda and reassure investors about the nation’s finances.

De la Espriella announced Lara’s departure on Wednesday night. “I thank Dr. Rodrigo Lara Restrepo for his service to Colombia,” the president wrote. He said Alejandro Ordóñez, a former inspector general and current Colombian ambassador to the OAS, would take over the political portfolio. ColombiaOne described the Interior Ministry as one of the most important in the Executive Branch because of its work in Congress.

“I welcome Dr. Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado, who will assume the position of the new Minister of the Interior,” De la Espriella wrote. While officials formalize the appointment, Justice Minister Iván Cancino will handle the Interior Ministry’s duties, the president said. Lara’s departure followed criticism from some political sectors over his relationship with lawmakers and the government’s setback in the budget bill’s legislative process. It also coincided with debate in the joint First Committees on a bill for the submission of armed groups to justice. The national government sought a framework for dealing with illegal armed groups and replacing Petro’s failed policy of total peace.

Other departures included Viviane Morales from the Ministry of Education, Ricardo Valencia from the National Administrative Department of Statistics, Magda Yolima Amaya from the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies, Hannah Escobar from the Ministry of Health, Carlos Rene Montoya from Colpensiones and German Miranda from the National Fire Department. The article also reports that De la Espriella asked Lara on October 3 to terminate Miranda’s appointment, saying he knew of facts that needed clarification by the competent authorities.