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Hundreds protested outside Colombia’s National Museum in Bogotá after the government ordered about 30 works and historical objects removed from display. President Abelardo De La Espriella defended the order as a response to what he called glorification of terrorism, while museum leaders and artists condemned it and called for the items’ return.
Hundreds of people protested outside Colombia’s National Museum in Bogotá over the weekend after President Abelardo De La Espriella’s government ordered about 30 works and historical objects removed from display. The items addressed political violence, LGBTQ+ history, women’s rights and the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC; the order has drawn criticism from artists and museum leaders who say the removals narrow how the country’s history can be presented.
The objects were removed last week from the Museo Nacional de Colombia, according to Hyperallergic’s report. Among them were a photograph by Humberto Rincón Perfetti from an LGBTQ+ rights march, a Pride flag that belonged to activist Elizabeth Castillo, and a pamphlet concerning women’s reproductive rights. Other items addressed the assassinations of former guerrilla commander Carlos Pizarro Leongómez and Patriotic Union Party leader Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa.
The removed objects also included a pen made from a bullet, used to sign the 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The Ministry of Education created the pen during the government of then-President Juan Manuel Santos. It bears the inscription: “Bullets wrote our past, education will write our future.”
De La Espriella said he instructed Culture Minister Paola Holguín to remove what he called “odes to terrorism,” including references to Pizarro and other former guerrillas. Holguín said on X that the museum should not serve as “an instrument of political indoctrination” or “a hub for spreading biased versions of our history.” The museum directed Hyperallergic’s questions to the Culture Ministry, which referred the outlet to Holguín’s posts.
Dispute Over Who Tells Colombia’s History
The decision concerns more than the display of individual artworks: it affects which accounts of conflict, peace, gender and LGBTQ+ rights visitors encounter in the country’s national museum. The targeted works were largely in a gallery about Colombian social and political history, where the museum says it examines “processes of coexistence, resistance, and revindication.” Removing objects from that setting changes what visitors can see while the government’s reasons for doing so remain contested.
The response has brought cultural institutions into a public dispute over the museum’s role. Directors of six modern art museums issued a joint statement expressing “deep concern” and urging the culture minister to reverse the decision. Their position is that museums should present difficult parts of the past rather than exclude them. The dispute also has implications for artists and communities whose experiences have historically received less attention in official accounts.
The protests unfolded amid broader criticism of the government’s cultural policies. Curator Jaime Cerón told Hyperallergic that the removals fit what he views as attacks on the arts, pointing to the Culture Ministry’s September suspension of a federal support program for artists and creative workers. That description is Cerón’s assessment; the reported suspension and the museum order are separate government actions.
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The Gallery and the Government Order
Most of the targeted items were shown in the museum’s “Making Society” gallery, opened in 2019 and focused on social and political history. Other works were in a section on socially engaged printmaking and photography from the 1950s and ’60s. The removed pieces included work by late artists Antonio Caro and Luis Caballero, according to Hyperallergic.
De La Espriella took office in August after defeating leftist senator Iván Cepeda in a closely contested election, the source report said. He campaigned on a conservative platform described in that report as “antiwoke.” His order places the museum dispute within a wider political argument over how public institutions should represent the country’s past.
Curator Cerón also cited a 2025 incident in Medellín involving a mural honoring women searching for their disappeared children. After the city’s mayor had the mural painted over, artists repainted it and the phrase “Las cuchas tienen razón” spread to other walls and fences, according to Hyperallergic. Cerón argued that censorship can make targeted messages more visible; that is his interpretation, not a confirmed outcome of the current museum dispute.
““Museums have the responsibility of allowing us to know the complexity of our history, including that which makes us uncomfortable, confronts us, or is difficult for us to acknowledge.””
— Directors of six modern art museums
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The Objects’ Future Is Unclear
The government’s order has been reported, but the items’ current location and any plan to return them to display have not been specified in the source material. The Culture Ministry has not been reported as announcing a reversal, and the museum itself referred media inquiries to the ministry.
It is also unclear whether the removals will be reviewed through a formal process, whether the objects may be shown elsewhere in the museum, or how the ministry reached its decision about each item. The available reporting does not establish the full terms of the order or whether additional works could be affected.
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Pressure Builds for a Reversal
Museum directors have called on Holguín to reverse the removals, and artists and demonstrators are pressing for the objects to return to public view. No reversal or timetable was reported at the time of the source account. The next clear development will be whether the Culture Ministry or the National Museum provides a formal update on the order, the objects’ status or plans for the galleries.
Further statements from the ministry, the museum, or the institutions that signed the joint declaration may clarify whether the dispute will lead to a change in the exhibits. For now, the protest and public criticism have made the removal of the works a broader debate about cultural policy and historical representation in Colombia.
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Key Questions
What prompted the protests in Bogotá?
Demonstrators protested after the government ordered about 30 works and objects removed from Colombia’s National Museum. The items addressed political violence, LGBTQ+ history, women’s rights and the peace agreement with the FARC.
Who ordered the works removed?
President Abelardo De La Espriella said he instructed Culture Minister Paola Holguín to remove what he described as “odes to terrorism.” Holguín said the museum should not promote political indoctrination or biased versions of history.
Which objects were taken off display?
Reported examples include an LGBTQ+ rights march photograph, a Pride flag belonging to activist Elizabeth Castillo, a reproductive-rights pamphlet, material about political assassinations and a bullet-made pen used to sign the 2016 peace agreement.
Have officials agreed to return the works?
The source report did not describe a decision to restore the objects. Directors of six modern art museums called for the order to be reversed, but the objects’ future remains unclear.
Source: rss
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