Colombia's Historic Apology for State-Led Extermination

By Josep Freixes - November 10, 2025

Gustavo Petro presided over the public ceremony in which the state apologized to the victims for the extermination of the left in the 1980s and 1990s. Credit: A.P. / Colombia One.

In the city of Santa Marta, during the Fourth Summit between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union, the Colombian state on Sunday made public an act of acknowledgment and apology to the victims of the extensive process of political extermination against the Patriotic Union (UP), a Colombian left-wing party during the 1980s and 1990s.

President Gustavo Petro assumed the State’s shared responsibility by declaring: “I ask the Patriotic Union for forgiveness because this state was jointly responsible for the political genocide.” The ceremony included speeches by survivors, relatives of victims, historic members of the UP, and artistic performances; it was the Colombian State’s formal expression that this chapter of systematic political violence can no longer be ignored.

Colombia issues historic apology for state-led extermination of the left, 35 years later

The UP was founded in 1985 as a left-wing political party that emerged from the attempt to integrate former combatants of the armed conflict and to offer a democratic alternative for political opposition in Colombia. However, this broad leftist coalition soon became the target of brutal, systematic, and selective violence in which party members, leaders, sympathizers, and grassroots supporters were assassinated, disappeared, harassed, and displaced.

According to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the restorative justice tribunal created in 2016 following the peace agreement with the now-defunct FARC, at least 5,733 people were killed or disappeared in attacks directed against UP members. Other estimates, included in civil society reports and by the Reiniciar Corporation, raise the number to more than 6,000 victims.

The extermination of the UP did not target individuals alone: Among its victims were several congressmen, deputies, council members, and mayors (five members of Congress, 11 deputies, 109 council members, eight mayors, and eight former mayors, according to one report). This selective violence left a deep scar on Colombian democracy.

“As head of state, without the state being here but rather us — the military and police leadership and the civilian government — on behalf of that state I ask the Patriotic Union for forgiveness because this state was jointly responsible for the political genocide,” Gustavo Petro said from the podium in Santa Marta.

The president concluded his speech with a reference to current tensions between the country and the United States: “I do not accept threats. We will rise up by the millions because the prophecy is true: If the golden eagle attacks the condor, the American jaguar awakens,” he concluded.

State responsibility and the involvement of private actors

The violence against the Patriotic Union was characterized by its structural nature: the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR Court), in its ruling on the “Case of Members and Militants of the Patriotic Union vs. Colombia,” confirmed that the Colombian state engaged in active participation, tolerance, or acquiescence in relation to the violence against UP.

Specifically, the ruling establishes that, although many of the killings were perpetrated by paramilitary or outlaw groups, there was an alliance among these players, sectors of the security forces, and traditional political elites to neutralize the UP’s political progress.

Reports indicate that the state did not adequately respond to warnings about the risks faced by UP members, nor did it implement effective protection measures, which allowed the violence to claim thousands of lives. In short, this was a systematic political extermination, not a series of isolated incidents — a key characteristic when referring to the genocide of a political party.

A 2022 ruling by the IACHR Court in this case declared Colombia internationally responsible for violating political and civil rights, as well as the right to the existence of UP as a direct consequence of the extermination campaign. The court ordered a series of measures for reparation, truth, and guarantees of nonrepetition, aimed at recognizing the magnitude of the harm and addressing the persistence of impunity.

In this regard, yesterday’s public act of apology in Santa Marta responds to the intent of this international ruling to repair the harm caused, acknowledging the Colombian state’s responsibility for those tragic events.\

For its part, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace opened “Case 06: Victimization of Members of the Patriotic Union” as part of its mandate to investigate, prosecute, and redress crimes derived from the armed conflict.

These proceedings place the crime against UP within Colombia’s transitional justice, although the challenges of implementation, truth, justice, and reparation remain enormous.

Reparation for the victims in Colombia

The setting of Santa Marta, during the CELAC-EU summit, gave special visibility to the political moment of recognition and apology. President Petro, before victims, survivors, and representatives of UP, stated that “so much blood and so much pain cannot be shed, because nations die.”

The speeches by historic UP leaders such as Senators Aida Avella and Jael Quiroga gave a human face to the suffering, pointing out that “genocides are not spontaneous but systematic actions,” and that the extermination of UP was fueled by intolerance toward a left-wing alternative.

The ceremony included symbolic offerings, artistic performances, and testimonies from victims who emphasized that this state acknowledgment is “a turning point in the country’s history.” The choice of Santa Marta, a coastal location, also seemed to seek a symbol of departure from the past, reconciliation, and collective memory.

Comprehensive reparation, full truth, punishment for all those responsible, and guarantees of nonrepetition constitute not only a legal imperative but also a step toward building a society capable of accepting difference and creating a country where diverse sensibilities can coexist.

In this sense, yesterday’s public act in Santa Marta represents an essential step toward breaking institutional silence — but it also opens the door to fundamental debates about how to build that future society from this present and a dark past, in order to avoid repeating such critical chapters in Colombia’s history.

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