Security & Strategic Review - October 2025

Over three years into President Gustavo Petro’s four-year term, hopes for a breakthrough in his flagship ‘total peace’ initiative have been all but extinguished. This was made brutally clear on 21 August when the southwestern city of Cali suffered the worst attack in a departmental capital since 2019. This came hours after a police helicopter was downed over Antioquia department. Authorities have blamed both attacks on the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), an alliance of dissident units from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group.