Colombian president purges National Museum of works promoting ‘communism’

Key points

• Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has launched a cultural "counterrevolution" that includes removing exhibits from the National Museum.
• Exhibits on feminist and LGBTQ+ activism and Colombia's political violence have been taken down, prompting protests in Bogota.
• The Foreign Ministry renamed a courtyard honouring an Indigenous leader as part of the campaign against "woke" ideology.

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has announced a cultural "counterrevolution" that includes removing dozens of exhibits from the National Museum. De la Espriella, a conservative ally of United States President Donald Trump, said last week he wants to stop cultural institutions from being taken over by what he calls "atheist social communism".

Since then, exhibits addressing the history of social movements, including feminist and LGBTQ+ activism and Colombia's political violence, have been taken down. The changes have drawn protests from civil rights groups, artists and students, who accuse the government of censorship and warn that parts of the country's history could be erased.

Protest outside the museum

Dozens of demonstrators gathered on Wednesday outside the National Museum in downtown Bogota, where riot police guarded the entrance. History student Azul Riascos said the government was promoting a vision of Colombia as exclusively white, Catholic and Spanish-speaking, which he said excluded Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ+ communities.

Anthropologist Arturo Sanabria described the government's approach during the protest as a form of neocolonial intervention. Political scientist Estefania Cardozo said the government was waging a cultural battle "that probably doesn't exist" and was erasing identities that already exist.

The government is making serious efforts in a cultural battle that probably doesn't exist

— political scientist Estefania Cardozo

Wider changes and US parallels

Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, director for the Andes at the Washington Office on Latin America, said the Colombian government's approach reflects a broader trend among Trump allies copying US political narratives and strategies. Trump has criticised museums in Washington, and the White House released a report in July branding leaders of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History as radical activists.

Culture Minister Paola Holguin said the government was reviewing and redesigning exhibitions and curatorial practices at other museums overseen by her ministry. The Foreign Ministry also renamed a courtyard previously honouring an Indigenous leader, calling the change part of the president's campaign against "woke" ideology.