Colombia’s president removes National Museum exhibits on social movements

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has begun reshaping exhibitions at the National Museum as part of what he calls a cultural “counterrevolution”. Dozens of exhibits have been removed, including material on social movements, feminist and LGBTQ activism, and Colombia’s political violence.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the museum in central Bogotá on Wednesday. Riot police guarded the entrance.

Civil rights groups, artists and students accused the government of censorship and warned that the changes could erase important parts of Colombia’s history.

Government reviews museum exhibitions

Culture Minister Paola Holguin said her ministry was also reviewing and redesigning exhibitions and curatorial practices at other museums under its control. The Foreign Ministry renamed a courtyard previously honouring an Indigenous leader, describing the move as part of the president’s campaign against “woke” ideology.

De la Espriella, a conservative ally of Donald Trump, said last week that he wanted to stop cultural institutions being taken over by what he called “atheist social communism”.

History student Azul Riascos called the removals outrageous. She said the government was promoting an image of Colombia as exclusively white, Catholic and Spanish-speaking, excluding Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ communities.

Critics cite imported political narratives

Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, director for the Andes at the Washington Office on Latin America, said the government’s approach reflected a broader trend among Trump allies adopting US political narratives and strategies.

Anthropologist Arturo Sanabria described the approach as a form of neocolonial intervention during Wednesday’s protest, saying the government was importing narratives about terrorism and “woke” ideology. Political scientist Estefania Cardozo said the government was waging a cultural battle that, in her view, did not actually exist.