Colombia's De la Espriella signs protest decree letting police act without waiting for dialogue

What the decree changes

Abelardo de la Espriella signed Decree 1525 of 2026 on Tuesday, 13 October, changing the protocol security forces follow during protests. The text says that when violence breaks out, the duty to favor dialogue and mediation becomes a preference among intervention tools, not a precondition that delays action against individuals committing violence. Under the decree, police may intervene against people who use weapons, incendiary devices, assaults or detention of others from the start of a demonstration, without exhausting dialogue phases. According to a communiqué from the Colombian Presidency, the decree also regulates the legitimate use of state force to protect citizens and guarantee peaceful protest. Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara said the government would apply the mechanism at the anti-government demonstrations called for Wednesday.

1. Oct 12, 2026Presidential address on Monday night says roadblocks will no longer be acceptable
2. Oct 13, 2026Decree 1525 of 2026 signed; new guidelines published late Tuesday
3. Oct 14, 2026Opposition, unions and Indigenous groups hold marches in several cities

The president's justification

In a nationally televised address on Monday night, the president said the right to protest would continue to be guaranteed, but that roadblocks stopping people from going to work would no longer be acceptable. He argued that such blockades had been wrongly treated as a right, and AP reports that rural Indigenous roadblocks have sometimes lasted for weeks. The new guidelines classify such actions as acts of aggression and call on police and protesters to establish humanitarian corridors during demonstrations. On social media he wrote that he had kept his word, adding that peaceful protest is respected while violence and vandalism are not tolerated.

And we wrongly called that a right. That is not exercising a right, and in my government it ends.

Opposition and criticism

Activists and opposition politicians have criticized the changes, worried that officers could interpret the guidelines broadly and produce more cases of police violence. Social movements and human rights groups argue the protocols give police too much power to break up protests, and they treat vandalism of public property as an act of aggression. AP also notes that in 2021 at least 46 people were killed in anti-government protests, and human rights groups blamed police officers for many of those deaths. Former president Gustavo Petro, who called for mobilizations without a clear slogan, announced on social media that he would join the march.

I am going to march. For the minimum living wage, because this is a government for the big businesses of foreigners.

Wednesday's marches

Opposition parties, trade unions, Indigenous groups and social movements are expected to mobilize in several cities on Wednesday, 14 October. The marches are a first test of the government's strength, just over two months after De la Espriella took office in August. El País described hundreds of people cutting Bogota's main avenue, carrying banners from unions, teachers, campesinos, students and Indigenous groups. Some placards showed the president aiming a gun, and others depicted him in prison clothes beside Alex Saab, whom El País describes as a front man for Nicolas Maduro now facing US justice.

A parallel anti-terrorism draft

El País reports that only a leaked draft of an anti-terrorism statute exists, and it would give the president extraordinary powers to amend the penal code and add offenses. The draft defines terrorism as a manifestation that produces fear, panic and unease. Sebastian Escobar, president of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective (Cajar), said a protest or strike that causes fear could fall under that definition and be labeled terrorism. Laura Bonilla, director of Pares, warned that civil society organizations, journalists and ordinary citizens could be classed as terrorists on the basis of information that may be classified and withheld from the accused.