Pandemic, Protest, and Petro Presidente: Rescuing Colombia’s Peace

Colombia elected a new progressive government on 19 June. While the COVID-19 pandemic did not play a direct role in the campaign, it has deepened both structural problems as well as pre-pandemic trends such as high levels of social inequality, citizen distrust regarding state institutions, and increasing violence in certain regions of the country.

While these social disparities led to a call for change by different groups, reducing violence will be a key policy test for the new government, write Kristina Birke Daniels, Viviana Garcia Pinzon and Sabine Kurtenbach in this GIGA Focus Report.