By Catalina Oquendo, EL PAÍS, November 4, 2026
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
This week in Colombia, real life was imposed on the videos the administration had designed for social networks. The citizens—including many of Abelardo De la Espriella’s voters—had to take a hit with the tax reform that increased the IVA (sales tax) all the way to coffee, here in coffee country; and five attacks with explosives shook several municipalities, leaving seven dead, including a newborn baby. And meanwhile, the President could be seen playing soldier.
De la Espriella has got the country used to seeing him perform: acting like a cop catching some criminal, treating him like a “gangster”, even though there hasn’t been a trial, walking around body bags full of dead people; grabbing a hidden microphone and using it to reprimand two female politicians . . . On the social networks, many of his voters are celebrating that. But this weekend, while the Iván Mordisco Dissidents convulsed several municipalities by attacking them with explosives, De la Espriella showed himself carrying a rifle and firing it in the style of the video game: Call of Duty.
It was an especially violent weekend. In Planadas (Tolima Department), known to be a laboratory of peace and coffee after the Peace Agreement, violence came back with its ugliest face. Four people were killed and another seventeen were injured in an attack with explosives; in Algecirias, Huila Department, another attack left a police officer killed and six people injured, including civilians. In Balboa, Cauca Department, two explosive devices blew up at a hospital; and in Chocó, two soldiers died in drone attacks by the ELN guerrillas. That’s why the images of the President wearing a helmet, bulletproof jacket, and rifle in hand at the base in Tolemaida in a military simulation, left evidence of an excess of theatricality.
At a time when the country requires a sustained security policy and not just videos, it’s also expected that the President explain the tax reform to all of the citizens. It has generated criticism even among his voters and legislators that favor him. However, since this is not a subject that he can deal with, as became evident in the campaign, he has turned over his principal economic proposal to Vice President José Manuel Restrepo, who is making the rounds of the media to try to explain it.
The reform that was proposed to the Congress clashes with his campaign promises not to raise taxes, not to impose a sales tax on products for daily use like coffee, sugar, or flour, fruits and vegetables; not to increase the income tax or the cost of health care for people who earn between 5 million pesos (roughly USD $1,600 at current exchange rates) and 9 million pesos (roughly USD $2,800 at current exchange rates) per month; as well as a fiscal squeeze that, according to Restrepo, is a time bomb left by the Gustavo Petro administration.
In the Congress, the sales tax increase has been rejected by legislators of all political perspectives, including National Salvation, De la Espriella’s own Party. With time not on their side, this administration needs more than videos.