GIGA Talk
05.02.2026
16:30 Uhr (MEZ)
18:00 Uhr (MEZ)
United States military intervention in Venezuela and President Nicolás Maduro’s arrest have fundamentally altered Colombia’s political landscape weeks before its parliamentary (8 March) and presidential (31 May) elections. Besides the escalation of geopolitical tensions next door, Colombia’s respective polls are set to take place amid deep-seated polarisation, incidents of political violence, and record coca cultivation at home.
President Gustavo Petro – now sanctioned by the Donald Trump administration, in tandem with Colombia’s recent decertification – leaves office with a mixed record regarding his ambitious agenda of peace negotiations, rural development, and alternative drug policies. With signature initiatives hanging in the balance, drug trafficking routes in flux, and repeated threats from Trump, the stakes for regional stability are enormously high.
For Germany, heavily invested as it is in Colombia’s peace process through development cooperation, these shifts demand urgent attention. How will the elections reshape the Latin American country's approach to armed groups and counternarcotics? What future awaits Colombia–US relations under Trump’s aggressive regional agenda? Can peacebuilding, rural development, and transitional-justice initiatives – areas where German expertise and engagement remain crucial – survive escalating geopolitical tensions and the prospective outcomes from upcoming elections?
Speakers: Dr. Estefania Ciro is Director of AlaOrilladelRío, Centro del Pensamiento desde la Amazonía Colombiana, specialising in coca economies and rural development in conflict-affected territories.
Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach is President of GIGA, examining peace processes, political violence, and post-conflict transitions in Latin America.
Moderator: Dr. Jonas von Hoffmann is a Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies, focusing on political violence, security governance, and illicit economies in Colombia and Latin America.
GIGA Berlin Office, Friedrichstraße 206, 10969 Berlin
Englisch
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