Overview
- Colombia’s Justice Ministry published a draft bill to initiate a National Constituent Assembly with 71 delegates selected under gender parity rules and subject to a referendum requiring support from at least one third of the electoral roll.
- Addressing thousands in Bogotá’s Plaza de Bolívar, President Gustavo Petro urged support for the constituent process and called for a national social committee to gather roughly 2.5 million signatures.
- Petro vowed to personally present the signatures and the bill to Congress on July 20, 2026, shortly before his term ends on August 7.
- The U.S. Treasury’s OFAC designated Petro, his wife Verónica Alcócer, his son Nicolás Petro Burgos, and Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, blocking any U.S. assets and prohibiting transactions.
- Petro said he holds no U.S. accounts so the sanctions do not affect him personally and he denounced the measures as pressure tied to Colombian criminal interests in Miami, as Justice Minister Eduardo Montealegre submitted his irrevocable resignation.