Colombia has a thriving, growing BPO industry, as evidenced by the success of the CX Summit 2026, organized by the industry association, Bpro. While the sector is known to have some very innovative employers,  Lisa Walden, co-founder of Good Company Consulting and co-author of The Future of Work Is Human was a keynote speaker at this year’s event where she spoke about how organizations can build more human-centered workplaces by moving beyond traditional leadership approaches and understanding employees as individuals.

Her presentation explored the “platinum rule” of leadership, which is treating people the way they want to be treated, as well as the changing expectations of different generations entering the workforce.

With Colombia’s BPO industry employing a large and increasingly younger workforce, Walden, A Colombian with roots in Santander, discussed how leaders can better engage Gen Z employees, build psychological safety, improve communication, and adapt to a rapidly changing global workplace shaped by technology, globalization, and shared experiences such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finance Colombia’s Executive Editor Loren Moss was able to speak with Walden about her concepts and guidance for innovative employers in any industry sector.

Finance Colombia: We’re here at the CX Summit 2026. I’m with Lisa Walden. You’re quite the superstar. There’s been such a line of people looking at your book, The Future of Work is Human. You gave a great talk, and it’s exciting to have you here. At the end, there was a big surprise for me. I heard you speaking pretty good Spanglish, and then I learned you’re Colombian.

Lisa Walden: Yes, I am.

Finance Colombia: Wow, that’s so cool.

Lisa Walden: Yeah, I think so too. I very much represent Colombian pride as much as I can. This necklace is actually from Colombia, so I wanted to be wearing it on stage with me.

Finance Colombia: Great. And we could talk for an hour about that, but I think we want to talk about your presentation today. You gave an interesting talk, and you also have a book about this: how to relate to people differently in the workplace.You talked about the Golden Rule, which is to treat people the way you would want to be treated, but then—

Lisa Walden: The Platinum Rule.

Finance Colombia: Yes, exactly. The Platinum Rule: treat people the way they would want to be treated.

Lisa Walden: Yes, exactly.

Finance Colombia: Which is all the difference in the world, isn’t it?

Lisa Walden: Yeah. We don’t live in a one-size-fits-all world. Being able to know how to customize your leadership approach for the people you’re leading is the way to do it better: to lead in a more human-specific, nuanced way.

I know that’s hard. It’s not easy to do that if you have a team of 20. But that’s why I always say micro moves are your best friends. Think about what micro adjustments you can make that will help you connect and lead more effectively.

Finance Colombia: Something else that you touched on was interesting: how leaders in businesses — and that doesn’t just mean managers and directors, but leaders of all types, no matter their title — interact with people from different generations.

In a way, this can become a stereotype when people talk about Baby Boomers, Gen X, and other generations. But I think the message is to understand the people on your team and relate to them in a way that makes sense and is productive for both the organization and the individual. Is that the gist of it?

Lisa Walden: Oh yeah, 100%. As you said, sometimes people use these generational names as stereotypes, and I really caution against that.

It’s more a lens that you see other people through. It’s one piece of information, one additional bit of texture and nuance to how you lead, but you have to do the work yourself as well.

You have to find out, as individuals, what their preferences are, how they like to receive feedback, how they like to be appreciated, and what their style of work is. When you gain all that information, that’s what really helps you be a better leader.

Finance Colombia: Now, your consultancy has a business partner, and you both do consulting aside from having written a book together.

Lisa Walden: We have it here!

Finance Colombia: The Future of Work is Human. We’ll link to it, of course. Beautiful cover, by the way.

Lisa Walden: Thank you. We worked really hard on that. The first few we received were a no, but we landed on something good.

Finance Colombia: Great. My question is: what do you do as partners in your consultancy? What’s the purpose of the business, and what type of clients do you serve?

Lisa Walden: Our very tongue-in-cheek mission is to help people create workplaces that don’t suck.

We used to work together at an organization as generational consultants, and everyone would say, “Oh, we love your job. It’s so awesome. How do we work for you?”

We identified the gaps where people could focus more on the humans in the workplace and decided to make it our mission to help people create workplaces that don’t suck — but even better, make awesome workplaces.

The work that we do is focused on that people-first lens. We look at generations at work: Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z. We look at building psychological safety and trust, communication, and compassionate leadership.

Mostly, we deliver this content at meetings, associations, and events. But we also go into organizations. We do team building, workshops, and consulting engagements when a client comes to us with a very specific ask.

Our mission is simple: helping people create workplaces that don’t suck. The way we disseminate that information and pursue that mission is pretty varied.

Finance Colombia: That’s fascinating. Is there a website or a way people who might need that service can get in touch with you?

Lisa Walden: Absolutely. You can find me on LinkedIn. My name is Lisa X Walden, and you can find me easily with the X Walden. The X is for my middle name, Ximena, which is very common here in Colombia.

You can find us on Instagram at @goodcompanyconsulting, and you can also find our website at www.goodcompanyconsulting.com.

Finance Colombia: Lastly – and you’ve been very generous with your time – I love seeing the interest. We’ve been standing here and people keep coming up to you, which is amazing.

Lisa Walden: It’s cool.

Finance Colombia: I’ve been coming to this event for about 15 years, and I’ve never seen that kind of response. I’ve seen other popular people, but not like that. That’s really impressive for the keynotes.

Lisa Walden: Wow. Thank you for saying that.

Finance Colombia: What are the takeaways that people in the BPO industry specifically can use and apply?

Also, you talked about life-defining events and the things we remember — whether it’s 9/11 or other major events. It’s fascinating because you look at the parallels and differences between Colombia and other generations.

I think about the older generation when they think about the Bogotazo, when the presidential candidate was killed and everything that happened afterward. Were there differences that you found, or any surprises as you prepared for this and unpacked that?

Lisa Walden: I focused mostly on Gen Z because that was my ask. It sounds like for many BPOs, a vast majority of their employees are within that generational age range.

Gen Z right now is between 16 and 30, so I really focused on them in my interviews and research for this event.

I’ll also say that when we look at generations, the way we talk about them is through events and conditions during formative years — roughly your teenage years. Of course, a different country is going to have different formative events for different generations.

For Gen Z, there is so much that’s similar because of globalization, the internet, COVID, and technology. We have access to the same types of things, so they are showing up much more similarly across the board than older generations.

Of course, there are some uniting events. For example, I asked the room, “What is an event or condition you remember from your formative years?” I want to say there was a Millennial in the room who said 9/11, and a Colombian Millennial who said a Colombian event.

There are shared events and conditions globally, but for Gen Z, there are so many of them. I went in knowing that, but I was surprised to find the level of similarity between how that is shaping them at work.

Things like really prioritizing mental health, prioritizing their own wellness, and pushing for work-life harmony — that’s what we call it. It’s not balance, but it’s about getting resources from work that make them better people outside of work and then being able to unplug after work so they can be better at their work when they come back.

They also have a different association with people in positions of authority and a different kind of work ethic, I would say. It can push some people because it’s different from what they’ve seen in the past.

We see that cyclical conversation: “Oh, this generation doesn’t want to work anymore.”

What really surprised me was the similarities and how many there were. It was truly shocking, even as a generational researcher, to say: “Wow, the similarities across these countries are pretty staggering.”

Finance Colombia: Absolutely. We’re all on the same internet and connected. If you look at globalization, Colombians consuming US content and people in the US being able to access channels from Uzbekistan and Bangladesh on their cable systems now — it’s a different world.

Lisa Walden: Yep, exactly. You can see the whole world now. So yeah, it makes sense.

Finance Colombia: Great. You’ve been so generous with your time. Thanks so much. It’s an honor to talk to you, and it’s been a lot of fun.

Lisa Walden: Thank you for having me. It’s such a pleasure. I’m just happy to be here.

Finance Colombia: Great.

Property may be defended, but not with a life, the court holds

Colombia’s Corte Suprema de Justicia (Supreme Court of Justice) has upheld the homicide conviction of a Boyacá landowner who shot and killed two men on his rural property, but slashed his sentence from 23 years to four years and four months after concluding he had acted in exceso en la legítima defensa (excess of self-defense). The July 1 ruling, written by Justice Myriam Ávila Roldán for the court’s Sala de Casación Penal (Criminal Cassation Chamber), offers one of the clearest recent statements of how far Colombians may go in defending their property — and where that right ends.

The case dates to the night of May 12, 2014, when Luis Alberto Reyes Buitrago found brothers José Fernando and José Danilo Caro Caro on “Chorro Blanco,” his cattle property in the vereda (rural hamlet) of Potreros, in Ramiriquí, Boyacá. Reyes fired on the two men, killing both, then turned himself in the following morning, handing over the firearm — which he was not licensed to carry — and stating that he had shot “to defend his patrimony.”

The path to the Supreme Court was unusually long. A trial court in Ramiriquí acquitted Reyes in 2018, citing reasonable doubt. In April 2024 the Tribunal Superior del Distrito Judicial de Tunja (Tunja Superior District Court) reversed that decision, convicting him for the first time of simple homicide on two counts and imposing 276 months — 23 years — in prison. Because Colombian law guarantees anyone convicted for the first time on appeal a further review, known as doble conformidad (double conformity), Reyes was able to challenge the conviction through an impugnación especial (special appeal), placing the matter before the high court.

“The economic patrimony cannot be placed before, or equated with, the life of a human being.” — Colombia’s Corte Suprema de Justicia, Criminal Cassation Chamber (Justice Myriam Ávila Roldán, writing for the panel)

The Supreme Court reaffirmed that a valid claim of legítima defensa (self-defense) requires five elements: an illegitimate aggression, the absence of sufficient provocation by the defender, that the aggression be current or imminent, that the defense be necessary, and that the response be proportional. Crucially, the court held that self-defense is not confined to threats against life or physical integrity — it can also protect patrimonio económico (economic patrimony), correcting the Tunja tribunal’s narrower reading.

On the facts, the court found the first four elements satisfied. The victims’ unexplained nighttime presence on private land, in an isolated area with a documented history of hurto de semovientes (livestock theft), amounted to a real and imminent aggression against Reyes’s property that he was entitled to confront.

Proportionality was where the defense failed. Forensic evidence showed Reyes fired repeatedly — the two bodies bore four and three gunshot wounds, respectively, striking vital organs from multiple directions — while investigators found no firearms on the victims, only a screwdriver, and recovered a single shell casing at the scene, matching Reyes’s gun. Emptying a firearm into two people, the court held, went far beyond what was necessary to repel a threat to property.

“The economic patrimony cannot be placed before, or equated with, the life of a human being,” the chamber wrote, adding that the defense of property, even under real risk, “does not authorize the use of lethal force.” Because the killing began within a genuine defensive context but exceeded its limits, the conviction stands as an incomplete justification: guilt and unlawfulness remain, but the penalty is sharply reduced. Recalculating under Article 32 of the Penal Code, the court arrived at 51.66 months — four years and four months — and granted house arrest, subject to a bond of two monthly minimum wages, citing Reyes’s roots in the community.

For readers accustomed to US self-defense law, the decision maps onto familiar concepts while diverging on the central question. Colombia’s legítima defensa privilegiada (privileged self-defense) — a legal presumption favoring someone who repels an intruder entering their home or its immediate surroundings — functions much like the American “castle doctrine.” It did not apply here because the shooting occurred on open rural land rather than a dwelling, where Reyes did not live. Colombia also has no equivalent to US “stand-your-ground” statutes; its necessity requirement asks whether other reasonable options existed before force was used.

The sharpest contrast is over property itself. Most US states, like Colombia, bar deadly force to protect property alone. Texas is the notable exception: its penal code expressly permits deadly force against theft “during the nighttime” on one’s land when lesser measures would expose the owner to serious harm — nearly the exact scenario Reyes described. On comparable facts, Colombia’s highest court reached the opposite conclusion.

The ruling lands as security and the rule of law remain central to Colombia’s political debate, and as some sectors press to widen the presumption of self-defense for property owners. Congress moved in that direction with Law 2197 of 2022, which systematized privileged self-defense and codified a proportionality standard — but this decision, applying the law as it stood in 2014, signals that proportionality remains a firm ceiling on the force the law will excuse.

Above Photo © Loren Moss

Auditors flag a planning breach in EPM’s turbine re-contracting

The Contraloría Distrital de Medellín (Medellín District Comptroller’s Office) has opened a preliminary inquiry into whether a change of contractors on the final works of the Hidroituango hydroelectric project caused a presumed fiscal loss of $108.585 billion COP — 108,585,346,005.76 pesos, or roughly $33 million USD at mid-July exchange rates — to Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), the city-owned utility that operates the plant. The review centers on generating units 5, 6, 7, and 8, the final stage of the megaproject.

The matter reached Medellín’s comptroller from the department’s own auditors. Since February, the Contraloría General de Antioquia (Antioquia Comptroller’s Office) had been conducting a special audit of the contractor change. In June it reported that the Sociedad Hidroituango, the project’s owner, suffered no patrimonial harm from the decision, but that it had identified a presumed breach of the principio de planeación (planning principle) in the contracting process led by EPM. Because EPM does not fall under the departmental comptroller’s jurisdiction, the finding of more than 100 billion pesos was transferred to the Medellín district comptroller, which must now formally open a fiscal-responsibility investigation.

“The new contractor presented values in its proposal that are higher than the values EPM had in its official budget. That difference is what generates the patrimonial detriment.” — Paula Ortega, Comptroller of Medellín

Medellín Comptroller Paula Ortega said the possible harm did not arise from a direct increase in the contract’s value. “The new contractor presented values in its proposal that are higher than the values EPM had in its official budget. That difference is what generates the patrimonial detriment,” she told La FM. Ortega stressed that the process is only at the preliminary-inquiry stage, which could run about six months, and that no fiscally responsible parties have been named so far.

The office will need to reconstruct the contracting process and determine whether the decision to change contractors rested on sufficient technical, legal, and financial grounds, or whether it damaged EPM’s assets. Fiscal-responsibility proceedings move through several stages and can extend for up to two years, meaning a decision on the merits may not come until around 2028.

The decision under review was made between 2022 and 2023, when Daniel Quintero served as mayor of Medellín and chaired EPM’s board of directors. Quintero’s administration defended the change at the time, arguing that the firms then executing the project were under investigation over the 2018 Hidroituango contingency, which followed the collapse of the plant’s auxiliary diversion tunnel. On that basis, EPM awarded the completion of the works on turbines 5 through 8 to the Ituango PC-SC Consortium — made up of the Chinese firms Yellow River Co. and Power China International Group, alongside Colombian firm Schrader Camargo — which Finance Colombia reported was the sole bidder for the works. Quintero has rejected the comptroller’s finding. Finance Colombia has also reported on the earlier stages of the dispute, including the breakdown of mediation between EPM and its original consortium, the utility’s re-bidding of the Hidroituango works, and the broader turmoil at the utility under Quintero.

The inquiry adds to other oversight fronts surrounding Hidroituango and EPM, including an inspection of the company by the Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios (Residential Public Utilities Superintendency) and judicial proceedings that already involve dozens of people over alleged irregularities during the previous administration. The Medellín district comptroller will ultimately decide whether the presumed detriment is confirmed and who, if anyone, must answer for it.

Above photo: Construction workers labor to complete the Hidroituango hydroelectric project (photo © Loren Moss)

Ruling binds any foreign firm that processes Colombians’ data, SIC warns

Colombia’s data-protection authority has made final its order shutting down the local iris-scanning operation run by World (formerly Worldcoin) and its developer, Tools for Humanity, closing off any further appeal.

The Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (Superintendency of Industry and Commerce, or SIC), the country’s consumer-protection and data authority, confirmed the sanction it first imposed in 2025 against World Foundation—previously Worldcoin Foundation—and Tools for Humanity Corporation after resolving the companies’ appeals. The confirmation came through Resolution 45710 of June 18, 2026, which upholds Resolution 78798 of October 3, 2025 in full. Because the decision confirms rather than modifies the original ruling, no further recourse is available, the agency said.

The sanction consists of the immediate and definitive closure of every operation in Colombia that involves the processing of personal data. World Foundation and Tools for Humanity may no longer carry out any data-processing activity in the country, and the SIC ordered them to delete all sensitive personal data—including iris codes—collected since they began operating.

“Consent for the processing of biometric data must be free and cannot be conditioned on economic incentives that affect a person’s will.” — Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC)

The two companies started operating in Colombia in the first half of 2024, gathering biometric images of the iris from thousands of people through devices known as “Orb.” In exchange, participants received economic compensation and could create an account to obtain a World ID, the project’s proof-of-personhood credential. The SIC found that the images were put through various forms of processing, such as biometric templates, but that the purposes of that processing were neither sufficiently clear nor properly disclosed.

Investigators at the agency’s data-protection directorate concluded that the operation breached several duties under Ley 1581 de 2012 (Law 1581 of 2012), Colombia’s personal-data-protection statute: the companies lacked compliant data-treatment policies, had no procedures for handling habeas data requests, failed to adopt adequate security measures for sensitive data, and did not obtain valid authorization from the people whose data they collected.

Consent was central to the ruling. The SIC determined that World conditioned people’s willingness to hand over sensitive information on the offer of an economic incentive, and that it did not provide clear, transparent, and simple information about the specific purposes of the processing.

“Consent for the processing of biometric data must be free and cannot be conditioned on economic incentives that affect a person’s will,” the SIC said. The agency added that biometric data such as the iris image carry special constitutional and legal protection, and that measures like encryption, pseudonymization, or fragmentation are legitimate safeguards but do not turn biometric data into anonymous information when the system can still single out an individual.

The regulator, led by Superintendent Cielo Rusinque, framed the decision as a warning to any company—foreign or domestic—whose business model involves processing the data of people in Colombia. The country’s data-protection regime, it said, binds foreign companies regardless of their domicile, business model, or the complexity of their technical architecture. The SIC also stressed that it does not seek to discourage technological development, innovation, or the economic freedoms recognized in Article 333 of Colombia’s Constitution, but that data-driven businesses must operate responsibly and within the law.

The case is not World’s first regulatory clash in Colombia. Finance Colombia previously reported on allegations that the project targeted vulnerable populations for iris scans as it expanded across the country. The company had promoted World ID verification in Colombia as part of a broader global rollout.

Bank sees rates at 12.75% and a deficit near 6.5% of GDP in 2026

Grupo Cibest, the Medellín-based financial holding company that owns Bancolombia (NYSE: CIB), has cut its 2026 economic growth forecast for Colombia to 2.6% from 2.9%, warning that the economy is losing traction as its main growth engines tire, inflation reaccelerates, and the public finances deteriorate.

The downgrade came in the bank’s mid-year update of economic projections, prepared by its economic, sectoral, and market research division under research director Laura Clavijo. The team framed 2026 as a year of macroeconomic stabilization shadowed by mounting medium-term challenges, with risks tilted to the downside for growth and to the upside for inflation and interest rates.

Growth concentrated in consumption and public spending

According to the report, gross domestic product expanded 2.2% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, and just 0.6% from the previous quarter in seasonally adjusted terms, undershooting the bank’s earlier expectations. Grupo Cibest attributes the slowdown to the exhaustion of the two drivers that carried the post-pandemic recovery: private consumption and public spending. The bank had earlier shown Colombia’s economy accelerating into the second quarter, but its NowCast model has since held growth estimates near 2.6%.

“In sum, the Colombian economy moves through 2026 in an environment of converging risks that challenges progress on structural gains.” — Grupo Cibest economic research team

The research team expects private consumption growth to ease to 2.8% in 2026 from 3.5% in 2025, pressured by high interest rates and inflation, even as remittances and a resilient labor market continue to support household spending. Public spending is projected to grow about 6.0%, after 8.4% in 2025, helped by the activation of the escape clause in the Regla Fiscal (Fiscal Rule), which gives the government more room to run an elevated deficit. Fixed investment is forecast to rise 3.5%.

The expansion would be uneven across sectors. Mining is expected to keep contracting, falling about 5.3% on lower coal and oil extraction, while construction declines 1.6% amid high financing costs and a difficult housing market. Manufacturing growth depends largely on household demand, and services, led by entertainment, remain the principal driver of the economy. On the external side, the bank sees exports growing 2.9% and imports 6.3%, narrowing the goods trade gap relative to prior forecasts.

Inflation reaccelerates, central bank turns more restrictive

The report describes a fresh setback in the inflation cycle that will slow convergence toward the central bank’s target. Consumer inflation rose to 5.84% in May from 5.10% at the close of 2025, and Grupo Cibest expects it to climb to roughly 6.4% by the end of 2026, driven by widespread price indexation, this year’s minimum-wage increase, and inflationary inertia. A strong El Niño event, recently declared, poses an additional upside risk through food and energy supply shocks, with the bank estimating a severe episode could add 0.7 to 1.9 percentage points to annual inflation. Pressures are most persistent in services, which make up close to half of the consumption basket.

Against that backdrop, the Banco de la República (Colombia’s central bank) has interrupted its rate-cutting cycle and shifted to a more contractionary stance, having already moved to lift rates earlier in the year amid inflationary pressure. Grupo Cibest projects the policy rate will reach 12.75% by the end of 2026, an additional 150 basis points from current levels and a level not seen since February 2024, and stay elevated through much of 2027 before a gradual normalization that would bring it toward 7.0% by 2030. Twelve-month inflation expectations stand at 5.5% and 24-month expectations at 4.3%, both above the central bank’s 2.0% to 4.0% tolerance range.

Fiscal deterioration the main vulnerability

Grupo Cibest singles out the fiscal front as the principal source of macroeconomic vulnerability. The bank projects a Central National Government deficit of about 6.5% of GDP in 2026, above the 5.3% the Ministerio de Hacienda (Finance Ministry) laid out in its Marco Fiscal de Mediano Plazo (Medium-Term Fiscal Framework) in early June. The research team considers the official framework optimistic, particularly on inflation and primary spending, and estimates the primary deficit will near 3.2% of GDP rather than the official 2.1%.

Revenue performance has been strong: tax collection reached roughly 139.3 trillion COP by May, up 9.4% year over year and surpassing the targets set by the national tax authority, DIAN. But high budget execution and spending rigidity have made the required adjustment difficult, with commitments through May reaching 259.8 trillion COP, about 27.5 trillion COP above plan. To hit its fiscal target, the government would need to cut some 33.2 trillion COP from the 2026 budget, which the bank calls improbable given recent execution. As a result, gross public debt could rise to 65.9% of GDP, approaching 66%, and the heavier reliance on local-currency bond issuance to cover financing needs would keep upward pressure on yields. Grupo Cibest argues the absence of structural adjustment reinforces the need for a tax reform raising close to 1.6% of GDP to stabilize the debt trajectory. The fiscal picture echoes recent warnings from rating agencies, including Fitch’s view that revised deficit targets heighten fiscal uncertainty.

External accounts improve, peso firms

The external picture is more favorable. The bank estimates the current account deficit will narrow to 2.3% of GDP in 2026 from 2.4% in 2025, well below the pre-pandemic decade average, before widening gradually toward 3.3% over the medium term. The improvement reflects stronger exports, favorable commodity prices led by oil, and record remittance inflows that have climbed to near 4.0% of GDP. The bank sees Brent crude averaging $86 USD per barrel in 2026.

The Colombian peso has appreciated 9.2% so far this year, supported by capital flows returning to Latin America, the central bank’s rate-hike cycle, strong remittances, and expectations around the change of government. Grupo Cibest revised its average exchange rate forecast down to 3,635 COP per dollar and expects the currency to trade between 3,400 and 3,650 COP per dollar in the second half, with the trajectory hinging on credible signals of fiscal consolidation. The bank had earlier flagged a firmer peso after the currency’s appreciation in April.

Stabilization, with conditions

For the medium term, Grupo Cibest expects growth to stabilize around potential, near 2.6% to 2.7% annually through 2030, with the unemployment rate averaging 9.0% in 2026, and credit growth moderating to 1.9% in real terms while loan quality holds near a 3.9% non-performing ratio. The bank notes that a new administration, after Colombia confirmed a change of government on June 21, could improve investor expectations to the extent it advances a more market-oriented agenda, though it cautions that high interest rates will continue to weigh on private investment in capital-intensive sectors such as mining and construction.

The report ties its outlook to the persistence of converging risks. “In sum, the Colombian economy moves through 2026 in an environment of converging risks that challenges progress on structural gains,” the research team wrote, pointing to the loss of momentum in growth drivers, persistent inflationary pressures, significant fiscal deterioration, and more restrictive financial conditions.

Real estate fair to showcase housing, investment, and development opportunities

The Gran Salón Inmobiliario, one of Colombia’s largest real estate events, will return to Bogotá’s Corferias from August 20 to 23, 2026, marking its 20th edition with an expected participation of more than 25,000 visitors and nearly 170 exhibitors.

Organized by Corferias and the Lonja de Bogotá, the fair has operated as a sector partnership since 2005, bringing together developers, financial institutions, housing organizations, and specialized service providers.

The 2026 edition will showcase more than 1,600 real estate projects across approximately 4,900 square meters of exhibition space. The offering will include VIS (vivienda de interés social, or social-interest housing) and non-VIS developments, alongside tourism projects, commercial properties, business developments, and investment opportunities.

International showcase highlights tourism and investment projects

This year’s fair will feature an international showcase, where organizers expect more than 30 exhibitors to present projects focused mainly on tourism investment and short-term rental models.

The event announcement states that participating markets include Panama, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Guatemala, and Spain, with Panama serving as the edition’s guest country. The international section will feature residential, commercial, tourism, and business developments from Colombia and overseas markets.

Academic program and visitor support services

The event will also include an academic agenda focused on topics such as real estate financing, housing subsidies, market trends, sustainability, technology, and emerging investment opportunities.

The organizers also announced experiential areas designed to connect visitors with participating brands and provide additional tools for those evaluating property purchases or investment decisions.

Throughout the four-day event, attendees will have access to financing guidance, information on subsidy programs, expert discussions, and real estate options aimed at different buyer profiles and investment objectives.

According to the organizers, the Gran Salón Inmobiliario continues to focus on connecting real estate supply and demand in a specialized environment, while providing visitors with access to guidance and support throughout the event.

Above photo: View from building of Corferias in Bogota Colombia (Photo: {Rainercol@} / Wikimedia Commons)

Farmers hold adjudication papers but no promised deeds as the outgoing president’s term winds down.

Road corridors across the department of Cesar have been blocked since early July by campesino communities demanding something they say they were promised but never legally received: the registered deeds to land that the national government of President Gustavo Petro publicly adjudicated to them. Families who stood at official ceremonies and, in many cases, walked away with adjudication resolutions say that months later they still hold no escrituras (registered deeds) establishing them as the legal owners of their plots.

The gap between the ceremony and the paperwork has left hundreds of rural families in legal limbo over the homes they occupy and the crops they plant. Their central fear is timing. President Petro’s administration leaves office on August 7, when president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella is inaugurated, and the affected communities worry that once the clock runs out, no one will finish titling the parcels handed over in what several protesters have described as largely symbolic acts.

According to Infobae, close to a hundred farmers initially gathered outside the Valledupar offices of the Agencia Nacional de Tierras (National Land Agency), or ANT, the entity responsible for the program. When no officials came out to address them, the group moved to block the department’s main road corridors, halting regional transport. The protesters include campesinos from Cesar, La Guajira, and Magdalena.

A campesino leader from the municipality of Chimichagua, who withheld her name, publicly accused the ANT’s director and two members of Congress — representatives Alexandra Pineda and Nadia Umaña — of handing over land “symbolically and irregularly … generating false expectations in the communities,” according to Noticias Caracol. She said the communities felt they had been used as part of a media event while the documents formalizing ownership never arrived.

“When they carry out those handovers, the mayors are never called in. When they fail to deliver, the problem is left with us, and they block the city.” — Ernesto Orozco, Mayor of Valledupar

The mayor of Valledupar, Ernesto Orozco, placed responsibility on the agency’s management and the absence of its director, Juan Felipe Harman. Orozco said ANT officials had come to the region, handed out some resolutions, and left without completing the legal process, leaving a major social problem in the hands of the municipalities. His administration activated social-dialogue protocols through its security and government secretariats and spoke with the protesters for more than three days, he said, but could not find a single national-government representative in Valledupar willing to meet them.

“Here we are talking about the director of the National Land Agency, whose officials came, symbolically handed over some things, some with a resolution, but they have not given them the titles, and that is what the campesinos are demanding — their land titles,” Orozco said.

The only response, the mayor said, came from Bogota, where an ANT official explained that the agency was in the middle of its institutional handover to the incoming administration and could not send a delegate to Cesar. The agency’s proposed solution was for the farmers themselves to form a commission and travel to the capital. Lacking the resources to do so, the affected families relied on a private citizen, arranged through the Valledupar mayor’s office, to cover the bus fares for five campesino leaders who made the trip to Bogota. Officials warned that the corridors could close again if the delegation returned without concrete answers.

“We are not against agrarian reform or anything of the sort, but let them hand over the titles, or do things the way they should be done,” Orozco said. “When they carry out those handovers, the mayors are never called in. In my case, they did not call me, they did not tell me who received land or anything like that, but when they fail to deliver, the problem is left with us, and they block the city.”

The dispute lands at a moment of unusual instability at the top of the agency. Harman resigned as ANT director in early June to join the presidential campaign of leftist candidate Iván Cepeda, then returned to his post after Cepeda lost the June runoff to de la Espriella. The incoming president has threatened to eliminate the ANT altogether, sharpening the communities’ concern that the titling of their plots could stall in the transition.

The land at the center of the protests is tied to Petro’s flagship agrarian reform program. In its response to Noticias Caracol, the ANT said Harman had met with campesino communities from Cesar and elsewhere and that some titles would be issued during the second half of July. The agency said part of the parcels are properties recovered from the Sociedad de Activos Especiales (Special Assets Company), or SAE, the state entity that manages assets seized through extinción de dominio (asset forfeiture). The agriculture sector’s own tally counted more than 550 parcels recovered across several departments, including Cesar. The plots handed to the Cesar families were formerly SAE-administered properties that the agency acquired for about $1 trillion COP, part of 250 parcels purchased under a single agreement, with a titling process the agency said can take up to seven months but remains in force. Should a plot later face a legal reversal through a forfeiture proceeding, the agency said the parcel would not be taken back from the campesino; instead, the corresponding value would be paid to the former owner or alleged front holder.

Neither Harman nor the ANT’s central office had issued a definitive public resolution for the affected families as of Infobae’s publication. For an incoming administration that has questioned the agency’s very existence, the episode underscores how far a redistribution program can advance politically — through ceremonies, resolutions, and public tallies — while stopping short of the registered title that gives a rural family durable, bankable ownership of the ground beneath it.

De la Espriella suspends transition meetings with Petro administration after president questions election result

Colombian President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella (above right)ordered the suspension of transition meetings with the outgoing administration after President Gustavo Petro (above left) publicly challenged the legitimacy of his election victory in the June 21 runoff.

The decision does not cancel the formal transfer-of-power process, which is governed by Law 951 of 2005 establishing the general rules for the handover and receipt of public affairs and state assets. However, it does suspend the in-person and virtual technical meetings between the outgoing administration and the incoming government.

In a post on X, De la Espriella said he had instructed Vice President-elect José Manuel Restrepo to “immediately suspend the transition process” with the outgoing administration, which he described as “a corrupt government that is reaching the end of its term.”

“I could not allow the transition process to continue with a government that does not recognize the victory of this political project,” De la Espriella said when announcing the decision.

The move came after Petro wrote on X that “the president of Colombia does not recognize the legitimacy of the incoming government” and that “Abelardo did not win the election.” Petro also added that, in his interpretation and according to the will of the Colombian people, “the president is the philosopher Iván Cepeda,” comments that angered the incoming administration.

Does the transition remain a legal obligation?

Although the meetings between the two teams have been suspended, the formal transfer of information remains mandatory.

It is important to understand that Colombian law does not establish the procedures or methodology governing presidential transition meetings themselves. Consequently, in-person meetings such as those organized by De la Espriella and Petro are neither mandatory nor regulated by law. Rather, they are a political tradition developed over time to facilitate the exchange of information between outgoing and incoming administrations.

As a result, it is necessary to distinguish between the meetings and the transition process itself. The transfer of power is not a courtesy between governments or a discretionary political decision; it is regulated by law.

Law 951 of 2005 requires “outgoing public officials to deliver organized information regarding the matters, resources, programs and responsibilities under their authority to ensure transparency, administrative continuity and public accountability.”

The law requires the outgoing administration “to deliver reports, supporting documents and official records within 15 days after leaving office”. Incoming officials then have up to one month to submit observations, request clarifications or seek additional information.

The law requires the outgoing administration “to deliver reports, supporting documents and official records within 15 days after leaving office”. Incoming officials then have up to one month to submit observations, request clarifications or seek additional information.

This means that suspending the meetings does not eliminate the legal obligation to transfer information or prevent oversight institutions from reviewing potential failures to comply.

What is lost by suspending the meetings?

Although transition meetings are not expressly required by law, they serve an important practical purpose.

For the outgoing administration, they provide an opportunity to explain the status of public policies, advocate for the continuation of ongoing programs and document strategic decisions. For the incoming government, they facilitate the identification of administrative challenges, fiscal risks, contractual obligations and sector-specific priorities before taking office.

Without those direct exchanges, the incoming administration will rely primarily on written reports, official documents and alternative mechanisms for gathering information.

“Using the alternative means we have to gather that information, once we take office, we will have clarity regarding the figures we receive,” De la Espriella said.

Former High Commissioner for Peace Miguel Ceballos told Caracol Radio that “public officials leaving office are legally required to account for their administration and that incoming officials may record any concerns or objections in writing so they can later be reviewed by oversight authorities.”

No penalty for canceling meetings, but there are penalties for failing to transfer information

Colombian law does not establish a specific sanction for temporarily or permanently suspending transition meetings.

However, outgoing officials remain legally obligated to provide complete, accurate and timely information. If an agency or public official omits information, submits incomplete records or fails to fulfill reporting obligations, they could face disciplinary, fiscal or even criminal investigations, depending on the seriousness of the conduct.

Law 1952 of 2019, Colombia’s General Disciplinary Code, establishes that failing to properly hand over a public office constitutes a disciplinary offense. In such cases, the Office of the Inspector General may initiate disciplinary proceedings against the officials responsible.

Presidential inauguration will not be affected

Suspending the transition meetings does not prevent the president-elect from taking office or alter the constitutional timetable for the transfer of power.

Under Colombia’s Constitution, the incoming president must assume office on the scheduled date. From that moment, the new president will have full authority to appoint Cabinet members, issue instructions to state institutions and exercise the powers of the presidency.

The transition process therefore facilitates the administrative transfer of government but is not a legal prerequisite for the constitutional transfer of power.

De la Espriella is scheduled to be inaugurated on August 7, 2026. Petro himself confirmed that he will transfer power that day as required by law.

“The transition is before the people. It is a public handover by the government whose term ends at midnight on Aug. 6 because that was the mandate of the people, and I obey the people,” Petro said in a public statement.

The Administrative Court of Cundinamarca has rejected a request by Portugal’s Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda to invalidate the proceedings in the lawsuit seeking to determine the legality of the agreement signed with the Colombian government to implement the country’s new passport system.

The ruling allows the case to move forward, enabling the court to begin examining the substance of the dispute.

The case stems from the controversy surrounding President Gustavo Petro‘s decision to replace Thomas Greg & Sons, which had produced Colombian passports for nearly two decades, with a cooperation agreement between Colombia’s National Printing Office (Imprenta Nacional de Colombia) and Portugal’s Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda.

Following that decision, Colombia’s Office of the Inspector General (Procuraduría General de la Nación, PGN), the country’s oversight agency, argued that the agreement violated public procurement laws and requested that it be declared null and void. The government, meanwhile, has defended both the legality of the contract and its objective of strengthening Colombia’s sovereignty over the production of its travel documents.

The court order, dated June 30 and made public on July 1, 2026, does not determine whether the agreement is legal. Instead, it addresses a procedural issue: the Portuguese company argued that it had never been properly notified of the lawsuit filed by the Inspector General’s Office and requested that all proceedings be declared null.

However, Judge José Élver Muñoz Barrera concluded that although international notification should have been carried out through letters rogatory because the company is domiciled in Lisbon, that procedural issue was cured when the company voluntarily appeared in court through legal counsel.

However, Judge José Élver Muñoz Barrera concluded that although international notification should have been carried out through letters rogatory because the company is domiciled in Lisbon, that procedural issue was cured when the company voluntarily appeared in court through legal counsel.

The ruling cites Article 301 of Colombia’s General Code of Procedure, which states that “any party that appoints legal counsel shall be deemed notified by conclusive conduct of all rulings issued in the respective proceeding,” a legal doctrine that has the same effect as personal service of process.

The judge also rejected claims that due process had been violated.

“At no point have the rights to due process, defense and adversarial proceedings of Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda S.A. been violated,” the ruling states.

The court further noted that it completed all the procedures required for international service of process, including issuing the letters rogatory, translating the documents and coordinating with Colombia’s Foreign Ministry and the Portuguese authorities.

With this decision, the legal proceedings will continue, and the court will now examine whether the passport agreement complies with Colombian law.

The Inspector General’s lawsuit and Portugal’s response

The case originated with a lawsuit filed by the Inspector General’s Office in October 2025 challenging the cooperation and participation agreement signed on July 28 of that year.

The agreement, valued at more than $1.3 trillion COP, was designed to implement a new model for producing, personalizing and issuing Colombian passports.

In its lawsuit, the Inspector General asked the court to declare the contract absolutely null and void and order the Portuguese entity to return all funds it received under the agreement.

According to the oversight agency, the agreement violated Law 1150 of 2007 governing public procurement involving international organizations because Casa da Moeda contributed only 21% of the project’s total value, while Colombian law requires a minimum contribution of 50% for such agreements to be awarded without a public bidding process.

Casa da Moeda, for its part, argued that the lawsuit had never been served in accordance with the applicable international procedures.

Felipe De Vivero Arciniegas, legal counsel for the Portuguese entity, argued that because the company is headquartered in Lisbon, it should have been notified exclusively through letters rogatory in accordance with Colombia’s General Code of Procedure and the Hague Convention. On that basis, he requested that the entire notification process be repeated.

In its latest ruling, the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca rejected that request, concluding that the company’s voluntary appearance in the proceedings remedied any potential defect in service of process.

A dispute that began with Colombia’s passport reform

The legal dispute originated with President Gustavo Petro’s decision to replace the passport production model that had been managed for nearly two decades by the private company Thomas Greg & Sons.

Thomas Greg & Sons is also the company that operates the software used to tabulate votes in Colombian elections, a role that has sparked criticism and confrontation with Petro. The president previously wrote:

“This government is not beholden to Thomas and Greg, whose board includes former presidents and former presidential candidates. It is absolutely immoral that members of the oligarchy who has run for high office oversee the company that counts the votes. It is a tremendous mockery of democracy.”

Thomas Greg & Sons produced Colombian passports continuously from 2007 until its contract finally expired after being extended several times.

After Petro declined to continue with Thomas Greg & Sons, the governments of Colombia and Portugal signed a memorandum of understanding on October 2, 2024, to develop a joint system for producing and personalizing passports, travel documents and visa stickers.

At the time, Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said the agreement was based on “the proven capacity, knowledge and experience of Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, S.A. of Portugal,” as well as its international reputation and technical certifications.

The parties subsequently signed the cooperation and participation agreement that is now the subject of litigation on July 28, 2025.

One month later, the Foreign Ministry announced that the new passport model would begin implementation on April 1, 2026, with Colombia’s National Printing Office assuming responsibility for passport personalization through a technology transfer process carried out jointly with Casa da Moeda.

According to the Foreign Ministry, the new model was intended to strengthen “the protection of the sovereignty of Colombian citizens’ personal data.”

Timeline of the legal proceedings

The legal dispute advanced quickly after the agreement was signed.

In October 2025, the Inspector General’s Office filed a lawsuit seeking to have the contract declared absolutely null before Colombia’s administrative courts.

On November 4, 2025, Colombia’s National Printing Office filed a motion asking the court to reconsider and clarify the order admitting the lawsuit. Two days later, the Foreign Ministry’s Revolving Fund also requested clarification and supplementation of that judicial order.

Casa da Moeda later requested that all proceedings be declared null, alleging a violation of due process because it had not been properly notified.

Finally, on June 30, 2026, the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca rejected that request and confirmed that both the notification procedure and the guarantees of due process had been respected.

The litigation now moves into its substantive phase.

For now, the court has issued no ruling on the validity of the agreement or on the legality of the procurement model used to implement Colombia’s new passport system. Those issues will be addressed during the next stages of the proceedings.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese company, in partnership with Colombia’s National Printing Office, continues to produce Colombian passports without interruption, and passports issued under the new system remain legally valid until their expiration dates.

Above photo: Former Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo (left) and then-Portuguese Ambassador to Colombia Catarina de Mendoza during the signing of the memorandum of understanding between Colombia and Portugal, October 2, 2024. Photo courtesy of Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Eight towns advance to UN Tourism’s international nomination round

The Colombian Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (MinCIT) has completed the national evaluation stage to select the country’s candidates for the UN Tourism Best Tourism Villages 2026. This initiative is a global program that recognizes rural destinations for cultural preservation, sustainability, and tourism development.

From an initial pool of 27 municipalities across 13 departments, eight were selected to advance to Colombia’s official international nomination phase, which will be submitted by the ministry’s technical team to UN Tourism.

“Twenty-seven municipalities from 13 departments participated, with proposals that reflect the diversity, richness, and commitment of Colombia’s rural territories.” – Diana Marcela Morales Rojas, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism

The Minister added that the selection process had a technical evaluation and qualitative assessment before identifying the final eight candidates.

The Best Tourism Villages initiative, led by UN Tourism, recognizes rural destinations that preserve their cultural and natural heritage. the goal is to use tourism to support sustainable economic and social development.

The eight shortlisted municipalities now move to the international nomination stage, where they will represent Colombia in UN Tourism’s annual selection process.

Located on the slopes of the Galeras volcano, Consacá combines high-altitude coffee production with traditional craftsmanship. The municipality is recognized for its toquilla-straw handicrafts and its historical connection to independence-era battles in the region.

El Peñón is a rural municipality in Santander known for its natural landscapes, caves, and agricultural traditions. Its tourism proposal highlights the connection between local communities, farming activities, and the quiet rural experiences offered by its mountain surroundings.

Surrounded by the Western Cordillera in Antioquia, Jericó combines coffee culture, historic architecture, and deep-rooted traditions. The municipality is known for its flower-lined balconies, religious heritage, and as the birthplace of the carriel, the traditional leather satchel that has become one of the region’s most distinctive symbols.

Surrounded by high-altitude páramos in Caldas, Marulanda preserves a rural identity built around sheep farming, wool craftsmanship, and traditional textile production. The municipality also maintains its arriería (muleteer) heritage, connecting its cultural traditions with the mountain landscapes that shape its tourism offer.