What changed
2026-07-30 00:11 UTC → 2026-08-25 00:28 UTC ·
added
removed
Mid‑June 2026 In mid-June 2026, a Bogotá court jailed sentenced Representative Miguel Polo Polo for contempt, to three days of arrest and in a fine of eight minimum wages for contempt of a Constitutional Court order. The sanction followed his failure to issue a required public apology to the Association of Mothers of Families of False Positives (MAFAPO) regarding remarks about an exhibition honoring victims of extrajudicial killings. In early July July, the Supreme Court’s Special First‑Instance First-Instance Chamber sentenced congressman Pedro José Suárez Vacca to more than five years over 68 months for aggravated prevarication. prevarication related to judicial decisions made while he served as a judge in Tunja. On 20 July July, the Supreme Court convicted former Liberal Party congressman Germán Alonso Olano Becerra to 40 months for bribery linked to Phase III of the Transmilenio project, imposed a fine of 44.53 minimum wages, ordered 3.44 billion pesos in damages, barred him from public office for four years and placed him under an Interpol red notice. In the same rulings former Chocó governor Francisco Abraham Palacios Mena received a 72‑month sentence, a 145.58‑wage fine, an 88‑month disqualification and an immediate capture order to 72 months for illegal construction contracts. The crackdown continued on On 24 July when July, former Bucaramanga mayor Luis Francisco Bohórquez, serving a 17‑year term for corruption, Bohórquez filed a cassation request against his 17-year corruption sentence, alleging procedural errors and a bribery attempt by the trial judge. errors. That same day day, a Medellín judge sentenced former Itagüí firefighter treasurer Juan Alberto Cardona Henao to 19 months for falsifying contracts that cost the metropolitan area over 120 million pesos. Former contract falsification; former Medellín mayor Daniel Quintero decried criticized the sentence as too lenient, urging harsher penalties. “unacceptable.” On 28 July July, the Bogotá Ninth Penal Circuit sentenced former Santa Marta mayor and ex‑governor Carlos Eduardo Caicedo Omar to 117.6 months (nearly ten years) for aggravated embezzlement tied to embezzlement. While a 2014 health‑center contract. The court imposed capture order was issued, Caicedo reportedly traveled to Madrid on 17 July; his defense maintains he is not a fine exceeding 4.45 billion pesos, barred him from any public office for fugitive as the same period, added sentence is not yet final. On 29 July, the Supreme Court upheld a permanent constitutional ineligibility, seven-year sentence for former La Guajira governor Hernando Deluque Freyle for failed water and ordered sewer projects, authorizing his capture pending final appeal. detention.