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This is a timeline of Colombian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Colombia and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Colombia. See also the list of presidents of Colombia.
 | This article needs to be updated. (August 2023) |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 10500 BC | El Abra culture inhabits the Altiplano Cundiboyacense.[1] | |
| 9000 BC | Communities of hunter-gatherers are established in the region of Tequendama, El Abra, Nemocón, Tibitó, Vistahermosa, Galindo, Aguazuque, Gachetá and Sueva.[2] | |
| 3000 BC | Inhabitants change to a semi-sedentary life. First crops of Cassava on the Caribbean coast and Maize in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense are grown.[3] Archaeological sites in Puerto Hormiga (Bolívar, Colombia) show human activity. | |
| 2700 BC | Inhabitants develop agriculture in the Amazon. | |
| 1600 BC | Building of El morro del tulcán Pyramid | |
| 1590 BC | In Valle del Cauca in the Calima River, the Ilama culture develops. | |
| 1300 BC | Chimitá petroglyphs in Santander Department | |
| 1270 BC | Zipacón pottery | |
| 700 BC | Cave paintings near Inirida river, Vichada department | |
| Quimbaya formative stage | ||
| Building of El Infiernito menhirs | ||
| 300 BC | Malagana period | |
| Guayabero Cave paintings in Guaviare | ||
| First type of Colombian cheese was made by ancient civilization and is sold at 55 cents a pound | ||
| 200 BC | San Agustín culture | |
| 100 BC | Tairona culture |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | Early Zenú culture |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 300 | the Chibcha civilization expands from the northern Andes including part of what is now Panama, the high plains of the Eastern Sierra of Colombia the areas of modern departments of Santander (North and South), Boyacá and Cundinamarca, becoming the most populous zone between the Mayan and Inca Empires. |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 600 | Classic Quimbaya civilization. Poporo Quimbaya | |
| Tierradentro culture |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 700 | Late Zenú culture |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1000 | Classic Muisca period. Muisca raft |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| ~1450 | Meicuchuca becomes zipa of Bacatá (to 1470) | |
| Hunzahúa becomes zaque of Hunza (to 1470) | ||
| 1470 | Saguamanchica becomes zipa of Bacatá (to 1490) | |
| Michuá becomes zaque of Hunza (to 1490) | ||
| 1490 | Battle of Chocontá | |
| Nemequene becomes zipa of Bacatá (to 1514) | ||
| Quemuenchatocha becomes zaque of Hunza (to 1537) | ||
| 1492 | Inca Empire invades southwest Colombia | |
| 1498 | Spanish explorer Juan de la Cosa lands on what is today called Cabo de la Vela (Cape of Sails) in the Guajira Peninsula | |
| 1500 | Rodrigo de Bastidas lands on the Colombian Caribbean coast |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1502 | 2 May | Alonso de Ojeda arrives at Bahía Honda and founded the village of Santa Cruz, first city in Colombia |
| 1508 | Diego de Enciso and Vasco Núñez de Balboa founded the village of Santa María la Antigua del Darién, initially called The Antigua | |
| 1509 | Ojeda founded the village of San Sebastián de Urabá | |
| Indigenous princess India Catalina is abducted by Spanish conqueror Diego de Nicuesa from a Calamari indigenous settlement | ||
| 1510 | Spanish conquerors discover San Andres y Providencia islands | |
| 1513 | 25 September | Núñez de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean |
| 1514 | 12 April | The Pedrarias Dávila expedition began |
| Tisquesusa becomes zipa of Bacatá (till 1537) | ||
| 1518 | 2 December | Vasco Núñez de Balboa is executed by orders of Pedrarias Dávila |
| 1525 | 29 July | Rodrigo de Bastidas founded the village of Santa Marta |
| 1530 | 3 May | Foundation of Santa Cruz de Mompox by Alonso de Heredia |
| 1533 | 20 January | Pedro de Heredia founded the village of Cartagena de Indias |
| 1536 | 6 April | The strenuous Spanish conquest expedition starts from Santa Marta[4] |
| 25 July | Sebastián de Belalcázar founded the village of Santiago de Cali | |
| 1537 | Foundation of St. Juan de Pasto by Lorenzo de Aldana | |
| March | Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada with his troops reach the Muisca Confederation[4] | |
| 20 April | zipa Tisquesusa is beaten in the Spanish conquest of the Muisca at Funza[5] | |
| Sagipa becomes the last zipa of Bacatá[6] | ||
| 25 July | Francisco César discovers the territory of Antioquia | |
| 20 August | zaque Quemuenchatocha is beaten in Hunza[7] | |
| Aquiminzaque becomes the last zaque of Hunza[8] | ||
| September | The Sun Temple in Sogamoso (name in Muysccubun: Sugamuxi) was burned by Spanish soldiers[9] | |
| 1538 | 6 August | Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada founded the city of Santa fe de Bogotá *some historians argue that the date of foundation was on 27 April 1539 |
| 20 August | The Panche are beaten by an alliance of zipa Sagipa and Spanish conquistadors in the Battle of Tocarema[10] | |
| 1539 | Cacica Gaitana starts the Paezan revolt against the Spanish conquest | |
| Foundation of Neiva by Juan de Cabrera | ||
| Foundation of Honda, Tolima by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada | ||
| 6 August | Gonzalo Suárez Rendón founded the city of Tunja | |
| 1540 | 27 July | King Carlos V appointed Santa Fe de Bogotá the title of city |
| 1541 | 24 August | Jerónimo Luis Tejelo discovers the Aburrá Valley |
| 1542 | Francisco de Orellana sails the length of the Amazon River | |
| 1545 | Foundation of Riohacha by Nikolaus Federmann | |
| 1549 | 17 July | Emperor Carlos V, created the Royal Audiencia of Santa Fe, subdivided into districts including the "New Kingdom Provinces": Santa Marta, Río de San Juan, Popayán, bordering with Quito, Guayana o Dorado and Cartagena de Indias. Pamplona was founded. |
| 1550 | 6 January | Hernando de Santana founded the village of Valle de Upar |
| Foundation of Ibagué by Andres Lopez de Galarza | ||
| 1556 | 7 April | The Real Audiencia de Santafé is officially installed |
| 1572 | Foundation of Villa de Leyva by Hernan Suarez de Villalobos | |
| 1580 | 7 December | First historical recorded eruption of Galeras volcano |
| 1588 | 4 November | Cartagena de Indias is affected by a hurricane.[11] (to 6 November) |
| 1596 | English corsair Francis Drake attacks Riohacha | |
| 1600 | 19 February | Huaynaputina volcano in Peru erupted catastrophically, in the largest volcanic explosion in South America in historic times causing a volcanic winter, with deadly effects reaching as far as Russia |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1610 | 5 February | the Catholic Monarchs established from Spain the Spanish Inquisition Holy Office Court in Cartagena de Indias |
| 1629 | Foundation of Barranca de San Nicolas (Later Barranquilla ) by Galapa indigenous people | |
| 1631 | Foundation of Girón, Santander by Francisco Mantilla de los Rios | |
| 1650 | Approximated date of painting of the Sopo Archangels | |
| 1675 | Foundation of Medellín by Francisco Herrera Campuzano |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1803 | San Andres y Providencia islands are annexed to the Viceroyalty of New Granada | |
| 1810 | 20 July | Cry of Independence, also known as the Florero de Llorente (Llorente Flower Vase) incident (Colombian Independence Day) |
| 25 July | José Miguel Pey de Andrade is President of the Supreme Governing Junta | |
| 17 September | The president of the Supreme Board of Cartagena, José María García Toledo, created the Colombian Navy | |
| 1811 | Antonio Nariño publishes the first Newspaper in Colombia, "La Bagatela" | |
| 1 April | Jorge Tadeo Lozano is declared President of Cundinamarca and Vicegerent of the King's Person | |
| Antonio Nariño is declared President of Cundinamarca and Vicegerent of the King's Person | ||
| 11 November | Cartagena de Indias declared its complete independence from Spain | |
| 1812 | 1 April | Manuel Rodríguez Torices is President of the State of Cartagena de Indias |
| 19 August | Manuel Benito de Castro is declared President of Cundinamarca and Vicegerent of the King's Person | |
| 1814 | 14 May | Manuel de Bernardo Álvarez del Casal is declared President of Cundinamarca and Vicegerent of the King's Person |
| 5 October | José Luis Álvaro Alvino Fernández Madrid, is president of the United Provinces of the New Granada. | |
| 1815 | 21 January | Custodio García Rovira is president of the United Provinces of the New Granada. he was executed 1 month later by Pablo Morillo. |
| 28 March | José Miguel Pey de Andrade is President of the United Provinces of the New Granada | |
| 17 August | Antonio Villavicencio is President of the United Provinces of the New Granada | |
| 15 November | Camilo Torres Tenorio is President of the United Provinces of the New Granada | |
| 1816 | 22 June | Liborio Mejía is president of the United Provinces of the New Granada[12] making him the youngest person to ever hold the presidency of Colombia at the age of 24. He was executed three months later during the Reconquest led by the Spaniard Pablo Morillo. |
| 16 July | Manuel Fernando Serrano Uribe is the last president of the United Provinces of the New Granada before its dissolution and complete Reconquest. | |
| 28 October | Execution of Francisco José de Caldas | |
| 1817 | 14 November | Execution of Policarpa Salavarrieta |
| 1818 | 25 September | Doña Manuela Sáenz de Thorne saves Simón Bolívar from an attempted assassination |
| 1819 | 5 February | The Congress of Angostura |
| 25 July | Battle of Vargas Swamp | |
| 7 August | Battle of Boyacá | |
| 11 October | For order of Francisco de Paula Santander, Spanish colonel Jose Maria Barreiro and 38 Spanish officers were executed in Bogotá. | |
| 1821 | 30 August | Congress of Cúcuta and Constitution of Cúcuta |
| 1828 | 27 August | After the failure of the constitutional convention of Ocaña Simón Bolívar proclaimed himself dictator, through the "Organic Decree of Dictatorship". |
| 1830 | The Federation of Gran Colombia is dissolved | |
| 15 September | Rafael José de Urdaneta y Faría is Provisional Chief of the Government of the Republic of Gran Colombia | |
| 17 December | Simón Bolívar dies in Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino near Santa Marta | |
| 1831 | 2 May | Joaquín Mariano Mosquera y Arboleda is President of the Republic of New Granada |
| 1832 | 10 March | José Ignacio de Márquez is President of the Republic of New Granada |
| 7 October | Francisco de Paula Santander is President of the Republic of New Granada | |
| Coat of arms of Colombia is officially adopted | ||
| 1835 | Start the Colombian coffee industry with the first commercial crops in Norte de Santander | |
| 1837 | Colombian peso replaces Colombian real as official currency | |
| 1839 | The War of the Supremes (Spanish: Guerra de los Supremos, also called the Guerra de los Conventos) extended from 1839 to 1841, caused by the ambitions of various regional leaders (gamonales) to seize power and depose President José Ignacio de Márquez | |
| 1840 | Foundation of Villavicencio by Esteban Aguirre | |
| 1841 | 1 April | Pedro Alcántara Herrán is President of the Republic of New Granada |
| 1845 | 1 April | Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera is President of the Republic of New Granada |
| 1849 | Foundation of Manizales by Antioquian colonists | |
| 1 April | José Hilario López is President of the Republic of New Granada | |
| 1851 | 14 October | José de Obaldía is President of the Republic of New Granada |
| 1853 | 1 April | José María Obando is President of the Republic of New Granada |
| Manuel María Mallarino is President of the Republic of New Granada | ||
| 1854 | 17 April | José María Melo is President of the Republic of New Granada |
| 1856 | 11 June | Creation of the Sovereign State of Antioquía |
| 1857 | 15 June | The Law of 15 June 1857, created the other states that would go on to form the Granadine Confederation: The Sovereign State of Bolívar, The Sovereign State of Santander, The Sovereign State of Cauca, and The Sovereign State of Magdalena |
| 1858 | The Granadine Confederation is created. | |
| 22 May | Mariano Ospina Rodríguez is president of the Granadine Confederation | |
| 1860 | 8 May | Newly appointed Supreme Director of War Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera declared the Sovereign State of Cauca a separate nation from the Granadine Confederation and Colombian Civil War (1860–1862) broke out |
| 1861 | 1 April | Bartolomé Calvo is President of the Granadine Confederation |
| 18 July | Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera is President of the Granadine Confederation | |
| 1863 | Foundation of Pereira, Colombia by Remigio Antonio Cañarte | |
| The name of the Republic is changed officially to "United States of Colombia" through the Rionegro Constitution | ||
| 14 May | Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera is the first President of the United States of Colombia | |
| 26 November | The Flag of Colombia is officially adopted | |
| 1864 | 8 April | Manuel Murillo Toro is President of the United States of Colombia |
| 1865 | Kola Román, a popular Colombian soft drink is introduced by Carlos Roman | |
| 1866 | 1 April | José María Rojas Garrido is President of the United States of Colombia |
| 22 May | Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera is President of the United States of Colombia for second time | |
| 1867 | Foundation of Leticia, Colombia by Benigno Bustamante | |
| 12 May | Joaquín Riascos is President of the United States of Colombia | |
| 23 May | Manuel María de los Santos Acosta is President of the United States of Colombia | |
| 1868 | 1 April | Santos Gutiérrez is President of the United States of Colombia |
| 1870 | 1 April | Eustorgio Salgar is President of the United States of Colombia |
| 1872 | 1 April | Manuel Murillo Toro is President of the United States of Colombia for second time |
| 1874 | Santiago Pérez de Manosalbas is President of the United States of Colombia | |
| 1876 | 1 April | Aquileo Parra is President of the United States of Colombia |
| 1878 | 1 April | Julián Trujillo Largacha is President of the United States of Colombia |
| 1880 | 8 April | Rafael Nuñez is President of the United States of Colombia |
| 1882 | 1 April | Francisco Javier Zaldúa served as President of the Rionegro Convention, a constituent assembly that created the United States of Colombia (now Colombia). As President of this legislative body, Zaldúa became the de facto President of the United States of Colombia for 6 days, when President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera ceded executive power to the convention, and until the said convention elected a Council of Ministers to serve collectively as the Colombian head of state. |
| 22 December | José Eusebio Otalora is President of the United States of Colombia, in his capacity as the Second Presidential Designate following the death of President Francisco Javier Zaldúa, and the non-acceptance of the office by the First Designate Rafael Núñez. | |
| 1884 | 1 April | Ezequiel Hurtado is President of the United States of Colombia |
| 11 August | Rafael Nuñez is President of the United States of Colombia for second time | |
| 28 August | ETB (company) is created, being the first telecommunications company in Colombia | |
| 1886 | President Rafael Nuñez creates the Colombian Constitution of 1886, which has been one of the longest lasting constitutions in the western hemisphere, and with the Reforms of 1910, 1936, 1958, 1968, 1973 and 1986 was the constitution of Colombia until 1991. The country adopts its present name: "Republic of Colombia" | |
| 1 April | on 30 March 1886, president Núñez presented his resignation to Congress due to his poor health condition caused by dysentery. José María Campo Serrano is sworn in as Acting President, becoming the first President of Colombian Republic | |
| 1887 | 7 January | Eliseo Payán is the 2nd president of Colombia |
| 4 June | Rafael Nuñez is the 3rd President of Colombia | |
| 1888 | Carlos Holguín Mallarino is the 4th President of Colombia | |
| 1889 | 14 October | Foundation of Villa Holguin (Later Armenia, Colombia ) by Jesus Maria Ocampo |
| 1891 | 5 November | Colombian National Police is created |
| 1892 | 7 August | Miguel Antonio Caro is the 4th president of Colombia |
| 29 September | Rafael Nuñez is the 5th President of Colombia | |
| 1894 | 18 September | Miguel Antonio Caro is the 6th president of Colombia |
| 1896 | 26 May | Poet José Asunción Silva commits suicide |
| 1898 | Manuel Antonio Sanclemente is the 7th president of Colombia | |
| 1899 | 17 October | The Thousand Days' War (1899–1902)(1130 days) (Spanish: Guerra de los Mil Días) |
| 1900 | 26 May | President Manuel Antonio Sanclemente extended the deadline for completion of the Panama Canal from 31 October 1904 to 31 October 1910.[13] The executive decree was granted without consent of the Colombian Congress.[14] |
| Battle of Palonegro | ||
| 19 June | Date of death of Salvador Camacho, called the "founder of sociology" in Colombia. | |
| 31 July | José Manuel Marroquín is president of Colombia | |
| August | Naturalist Soto Grimshaw dies of cholera during an expedition to the Caribbean region of Colombia |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | Colombian Geographer Francisco Javier Vergara y Velasco publishes the first complete cartographic charts of the country, the Atlas completo de geografía colombiana (1906–1910), through which he won the Charles Manoir price of the Paris Geographical Society. | |
| Manuelita became the first Colombian sugar mill to move from mule to steam powered mills | ||
| 23 February | Battle of Aguadulce | |
| 1902 | 24 October | The Thousand Days' War was a civil war fought in Colombia from 17 October 1899 to 21 November 1902, at first between the Liberal Party and the government led by the National Party, and later – after the Conservative Party had ousted the National Party – between the liberals and the conservative government. The peace treaty was signed on the plantation Neerlandia on 24 October 1902. |
| 1903 | Panama remained as a province of Colombia until this year, when – with backing from the United States in exchange for allowing the US to build the Panama Canal – it became independent (Separation of Panama from Colombia) | |
| 22 January | The United States and the Republic of Colombia sign the Hay–Herrán Treaty | |
| 26 October | The United States Navy patrol gunboat USS Nashville blocks Colombian attempts to suppress the Panamanian separatist movement | |
| 1904 | 16 June | Date of death of Manuel Uribe Ángel, known for his great contributions to the advances of the practice of medicine in Colombia and the Antioquia Department. He also served as President of the then Sovereign State of Antioquia |
| 7 August | Rafael Reyes is president of Colombia | |
| 11 October | Creation of Postobón soft drinks company | |
| 1910 | Colombian astronomer Julio Garavito Armero discovers the crater on the Moon's far side which is named after him (Garavito crater). | |
| 7 August | Carlos Eugenio Restrepo is president of Colombia | |
| 1914 | 7 August | José Vicente Concha is president of Colombia |
| 1915 | 9 May | Indigenous nasa leader Quintín Lame is arrested for attempting the creation of an indigenous independent republic |
| 1918 | Marco Fidel Suárez is president of Colombia | |
| 1926 | Miguel Abadía Méndez is president of Colombia | |
| 1927 | The Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia is created | |
| 1928 | 6 December | The Banana massacre, in Spanish, Matanza de las bananeras or Masacre de las bananeras: A massacre of workers for the United Fruit Company that occurred in the town of Ciénaga near Santa Marta |
| 1930 | Enrique Olaya Herrera is president of Colombia | |
| 1932 | 1 September | The Colombia–Peru War |
| 1934 | Alfonso López Pumarejo is president of Colombia | |
| First census in Colombia. Population:8.700.000 | ||
| 1935 | 24 June | Argentine singer Carlos Gardel dies in a plane crash in Medellín |
| 1938 | Eduardo Santos Montejo is president of Colombia | |
| 1942 | Alfonso López Pumarejo is president of Colombia for a second time | |
| 1945 | 29 April | Date of death of impressionist painter Andrés de Santa Maria |
| Alberto Lleras Camargo is president of Colombia | ||
| 1946 | Mariano Ospina Pérez is president of Colombia | |
| 1948 | 9 April | Murder of politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. Bogotazo riots. Starts the bipartisan violence ("La Violencia") |
| 1950 | Laureano Gómez Castro is president of Colombia | |
| 1953 | 13 June | Gustavo Rojas Pinilla seized power by means of a coup d'état |
| 1954 | 3 August | President Rojas Pinilla government gives women the right to vote |
| Rojas Pinilla introduced the Television in Colombia | ||
| 1955 | Rojas Pinilla ordered a military offensive against rearmed peasants triggering a confrontation known as the "Guerra de Villarrica" (War of Villarrica) which took place in the central town of Villarrica in Tolima Department. | |
| 1956 | 24 June | the Liberal Party headed by Alberto Lleras Camargo and the Conservative Party headed by Laureano Gómez signed an accord on 24 June 1956 to begin the National Front (Colombia). |
| 1958 | Dr. Jorge Reynolds Pompo is credited with having helped in the design of the first successful internal pacemaker | |
| 1960 | Creation of the first Natural protected area in Colombia, the Cueva de los Guacharos National park | |
| 1961 | 28 October | Hurricane Hattie moves over San Andrés island with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h), causing 1 death, 15 injuries, and $300,000 in damage (1961 USD, $2.1 million 2008 USD). |
| 1962 | Guillermo León Valencia is president of Colombia | |
| 25 July | Luz Marina Zuluaga wins Miss Universe beauty contest | |
| 1964 | The refractive surgery keratomileusis was developed by Ignacio Barraquer in Bogotá. | |
| May | Marquetalia Republic is overrun by the Colombian army (during what was termed "Operation Marquetalia") | |
| 1965 | 7 January | The National Liberation Army (Colombia) (ELN) guerrilla is created |
| 1966 | Carlos Lleras Restrepo is president of Colombia | |
| 1970 | Misael Pastrana Borrero is president of Colombia | |
| 1972 | Discovery of Ciudad Perdida archaeological place | |
| 1974 | Alfonso López Michelsen is president of Colombia | |
| The Black Tuna Gang, a Miami-based Colombian marijuana-trafficking group was responsible for bringing in over 500 tons of marijuana over a 16-month period in the mid-1970s ("the marijuana bonanza"). | ||
| 1976 | December | Starts the development of Cerrejón Coal mine. It is the largest mining operation in Colombia and among the largest open-pit coal mines in the world |
| 1978 | Julio César Turbay Ayala is president of Colombia | |
| 1980 | 27 February | Dominican embassy siege |
| June | Serial killer Pedro López a.k.a. Monster of the Andes confessed to over 300 murders | |
| 1981 | Homosexuality in Colombia is declared legal by the national government | |
| 1982 | Belisario Betancur is elected president of Colombia | |
| Paramilitary group "Muerte a Secuestradores" (MAS) is formed | ||
| Antioquian entrepreneur Felix Correa and his bank FURATENA get convicted for financial fraud causing a collapse in the national financial system | ||
| 1 September | Mother Teresa visits Colombia | |
| 22 October[15] | Gabriel García Márquez wins the Nobel Prize in literature | |
| 26 October (formalized on 5 November)[16] | Colombia resigns as host for the 1986 FIFA World Cup due to scarcity of public resources | |
| 1983 | Pablo Escobar attends Colombian congress sessions as backup of congressman Jairo Ortega | |
| President Betancur announces Colombia has signed in the Non-Aligned Movement | ||
| Businessman Roberto Soto steals 13.5 million dollars from the national budget with the help of a teleprinter machine | ||
| General Prosecutor Carlos Jimenez declares that MAS group have underground relations of support with the National Army | ||
| Guerrilla leader Manuel Marulanda announces to the press that the FARC guerrilla has grown to 28 main divisions, causing international concern | ||
| 1983 Guerrilla leader Jaime Bateman Cayon a.k.a. "El Flaco" dies in a plane crash near the Gulf of Urabá while traveling from Santa Marta to Panama | ||
| Jumbo 747 airplane of Avianca airlines, in flight from Bogotá, crashes in Mejorana del campo, near Barajas airport in Madrid, Spain. 189 passengers die, including Art critic Marta Traba | ||
| 31 March | Popayán is partially destroyed by an earthquake during the traditional celebrations of Holy week | |
| 1984 | Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla is shot to death by teenager hitmen hired by the Medellín Cartel. One of the hitmen, Byron de Jesus Velasquez, is captured | |
| President Betancur achieves a ceasefire with 80% of guerrilla forces in the country. In the case of FARC, this would be linked to the creation of the political movement Patriotic Union (Colombia) UP during the next year. | ||
| Dissident guerrilla 19th of April Movement (M-19) attacks Florencia, Caquetá. Over 100 civilians dead | ||
| 10 March | Tranquilandia, a large cocaine processing laboratory located in the jungles of Caquetá, constructed for the Medellín Cartel is destroyed by units of the Colombian National Police, assisted by the DEA | |
| 1985 | The Gorgona Island prison is dissolved and the island is declared National park | |
| 10 January | Elkin Lucena performed the first successful In vitro fertilization, that allowed the birth of the first Latin American test tube baby (Carolina Mendez). | |
| 23 May | Guerrilla leader Antonio Navarro is victim of a bomb that nearly killed him, and loses one leg | |
| July | Colombian cyclist Luis Herrera wins the Vuelta a España, first South American to win a Grand Tour | |
| 16 September | Ceroxylon quindiuense is declared as the National tree by the national government | |
| 6 November | M19 guerrilla attacks the supreme court in the Palace of Justice siege. The president of the Supreme Court of Colombia and many magistrates, employees and bystanders get killed. Over 100 fatal victims and undetermined number of missing persons. The army is accused of forced disappearance of civilians | |
| 13 November | In the worst natural disaster in the history of Colombia, Armero city in Tolima department is destroyed due to a flood created by the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz volcano (Armero tragedy). Over 20.000 dead. Countless homes destroyed. | |
| 14 December | Cardiologist Alberto Villegas performed the first heart transplant in Latin America to Antonio Yepes.[17] | |
| 1986 | Virgilio Barco is elected president of Colombia | |
| El Espectador newspaper director, Guillermo Cano is shot to death by hitmen | ||
| Guerrilla leader Javier Delgado kills 150 fellow guerrilleros of the Ricardo Franco Group, in the Tacueyó massacre, because he suspected them to be infiltrated | ||
| 3 July | Pope John Paul II visits Bogotá and the remains of Armero tragedy | |
| 9 August | Miguel "Happy" Lora wins the world boxing championship in the bantamweight division | |
| 4 December | Campo Elías Delgado Morales, a Vietnam War veteran kills 28 persons (including his mother) and leaves 15 injured, in the Pozzetto restaurant massacre, presumably due to mental illness. The events are depicted in the 2006 movie Satanás. | |
| 1987 | Guerrilla groups attack a military convoy in Caqueta breaking the 1984 truce. 42 soldiers dead and 27 injured | |
| Colombian Navy ship ARC Caldas sails in waters of Atlantic Ocean in dispute with Venezuela creating a serious diplomatic incident | ||
| 4 February | Drug dealer Carlos Lehder is captured in a farm near Medellín at 6:20 a.m. The same day at 5:20 p.m he is extradited and sent in a DEA turbocommander airplane to USA | |
| 11 October | UP leaders Jaime Pardo Leal and Hector Abad are killed in La Mesa, Cundinamarca. Eventually this movement would be lose more than 3000 of their members due to violence | |
| 1988 | Paramilitary groups commit massacres in Saiza, Mejor Esquina and Segovia, Antioquia | |
| General Prosecutor Carlos Mauro Hoyos is killed by hitmen | ||
| The first election of city majors for popular vote | ||
| Politicians Álvaro Gómez Hurtado and Andrés Pastrana are kidnapped by narcotrafficking related groups | ||
| collapse of Stock market due to incarceration of financial managers Juan Ricardo Escobar and Guillermo Uribe Holguin | ||
| Massacre of Trujillo, 107 victims. On 19 December 2006 Henry Loaiza-Ceballos was accused by Colombian authorities of being responsible for the massacre | ||
| First Iberoamerican Theater Festival in Bogotá. 100.000 people attend to the closing act in Plaza de Bolívar | ||
| 21 March | Colombian Painter Dario Morales dies in Paris | |
| June | Serial killer Daniel Barbosa a.k.a. the Beast of the Andes confessed 72 murders | |
| 18 August | Luis Carlos Galán, Politician and candidate to presidency is killed by hitmen in Soacha during a public speech | |
| 1989 | Drug dealer Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha is killed in a military operation | |
| First reports of the presence of Coffee borer beetle in Colombian coffee crops | ||
| 27 November | Avianca Flight 203 airplane HK1803 explodes in the air with 107 people on board, few minutes after leaving El Dorado International Airport as a result of a bomb planted by the Medellín Cartel. No survivors | |
| 6 December | 7:30 a.m. The Security Administration Department building (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad DAS) and an important part of the commercial area of Paloquemao district in Bogotá are destroyed by a bomb, in what is considered the worst terrorist attack in Colombian history | |
| 1990 | M19 Guerrilla leader Carlos Pizarro Leongómez is killed by hitmen when he was a presidential candidate | |
| César Gaviria is elected President of Colombia | ||
| El Tiempo newspaper director Francisco Santos is kidnapped | ||
| 20 Emberá indigenous people are killed in the Caloto, Cauca massacre due to land ownership disagreements with local landlords | ||
| 22 March | UP leader politician Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa is killed by hitmen | |
| 1991 | Rafael Pardo is the first civilian to be designated as minister of defense | |
| Minister of economy Rudolph Hommes announced the new aperture politic for international trade inspirited in the Russian perestroika and the creation of the National bank for international trade Bancomex | ||
| Starts the first concessions for mobile telephony | ||
| January | Journalist Diana Turbay is killed while kept kidnapped in a farm near Sabaneta | |
| January | Drug dealers Fabio, Juan David and Jorge Luis Ochoa Vázquez (The Ochoa brothers) and Pablo Escobar surrender themselves to the authorities | |
| 17 February | Opening of the national assembly for reform to the 1886 national constitution (Constituent Assembly of Colombia) | |
| 1992 | The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia is created, with Gustavo de Greiff designated as the first Attorney General | |
| Noemí Sanín is the new minister of foreign affairs. She is the first woman to be designed as a minister in Colombia | ||
| The collapse of the national electricity generation system causes massive power blackouts all over the country with an average of 18 hours/day without electricity from March 1992 to April 1993 | ||
| Fernando Botero presents a collection of 31 sculptures in an outdoors exhibition in the Champs-Élysées in Paris | ||
| 20 July | Pablo Escobar escapes from the Cathedral Prison | |
| 15 November | Villatina Massacre | |
| 1993 | Massive celebration of the winning of Colombian soccer team in a play against Argentine team in Buenos Aires with final score 5–0. Riots all over the country. | |
| The national government achieves commercial treaties with Venezuela, Mexico and Ecuador | ||
| 14 January | Galeras volcano eruption killed nine people, including six scientists who had descended into the volcano's crater to sample gases. | |
| November | Bomb explodes on 15th Avenue of Bogotá, near the intersection with 93rd Street (in front of Centro 93 mall). 10 people die, over 100 injured | |
| 2 December | Pablo Escobar dies in combats with the police | |
| 1994 | Ernesto Samper is elected president of Colombia | |
| 8000 Process scandal of Cali Cartel narcotrafficking money investment in the Samper electoral campaign starts with the public broadcasting of tapes from telephonic conversations among Minister Alberto Giraldo and drug dealers Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela | ||
| Former president César Gaviria is designated as OEA general secretary | ||
| A team of 10 people steals 24.075.000.000 pesos from the Republic Bank in Valledupar in the biggest bank robbery in the Colombian history | ||
| Paez river flood in Cauca department kills hundreds of people and destroys villages in a length of 40 km | ||
| 11 February | CONVIVIR (Spanish for to coexist) program of cooperative neighbourhood watch groups is created by a decree of Colombia's Ministry of Defense | |
| 20 May | Manuel Elkin Patarroyo received the Prince of Asturias Awards by his technical and scientific research in the development of synthetic malaria vaccine | |
| 2 July | Due to the poor performance of the national soccer team in the USA soccer World Cup, an angry soccer aficionado shot to death soccer player Andrés Escobar | |
| 1995 | 76-year-old conservative politician Álvaro Gómez Hurtado is murdered by hitmen | |
| January | Plane crash in Marialabaja, Bolívar Department. 52 dead, only survivor 9-year-old girl Erika Delgado | |
| February | Luciano Pavarotti gives a concert in Bogotá | |
| 9 June | Drug dealers Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela (The Rodriguez Brothers) are captured in a police operation | |
| 30 November | Start operations of rapid transit rail system Metro de Medellín | |
| 20 December | Plane crash near Cali airport. American Airlines plane with 163 occupants. 4 survivors | |
| 1996 | Antioquia governor Álvaro Uribe orders the capture of the German citizens Werner and Michela Mauss, suspected of being FARC collaborators | |
| March of protest of 90.000 cocaleros (coca leaf illegal farmers) from Guaviare Department and Putumayo Department ended with 12 cocaleros dead. Army soldiers accused of brutality | ||
| Guerrilla attack to the military base "Las Delicias" in Putumayo. 29 soldiers dead, 20 injured, 60 kidnapped | ||
| 26 June | La Gabarra Massacre | |
| 24 July | Hurricane Cesar moves westward across the southern Caribbean and crosses over extreme northern Colombia and the San Andres archipelago. Cesar kills 11 people in Colombia due to flooding and mudslides.[18] | |
| November | Aterciopelados band ranks number 1 in the MTV network, becoming the most successful Colombian rock band | |
| 1997 | "Miti-Miti" corruption scandal, involving Minister of communications Saulo Arboleda and minister of mining and energy Rodrigo Villamizar accused of obtaining illegal profit of 100 fm radio concessions | |
| April | Salvatore Mancuso and Carlos Castaño conformed what they called the "Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia" (AUC) United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia | |
| 15 April | Drug dealer Phanor Arizabaleta-Arzayus, member of the Cali Cartel is captured at a road checkpoint | |
| 15 July | Mapiripán Massacre | |
| September | Carlos Castaño in a press interview admits responsibility for the Mapiripán Massacre. AUC is listed by the US Department of State as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. | |
| October | Bird (sculpture by Fernando Botero) was destroyed by a terrorist attack in downtown Medellín. About 17 people died. Several body parts remained unidentified. The remains of the sculpture are displayed in San Antonio Square as a memorial for the victims | |
| 1998 | Andrés Pastrana is elected as president of Colombia | |
| Gloria Zea, director of the national Modern Art Museum organizes one of the largest art exhibits in Colombia "Arte y Violencia en Colombia" as a commemoration of 50th anniversary of the start of the bipartisan violence La Violencia | ||
| Fernando Botero donates 100 of his works and 60 pieces of his private art collection (19th and 20th centuries) to the Antioquia Museum | ||
| 20 June | Plan Colombia (Treaty signed with USA for support in War on Drugs) is officially unveiled by President Pastrana | |
| 7 November | President Pastrana granted to the FARC guerrilla a 42,000 km2 (16,200 sq mi) safe haven meant to serve as a confidence building measure, centered around the San Vicente del Caguán settlement | |
| 1999 | Betty la fea soap opera a.k.a. Ugly Betty reach the highest levels of rating and the script is sold to different producers in several countries | |
| 19 January | The 1999 Armenia earthquake devastates Armenia, Colombia. Over 2000 dead, 3000 missing persons and a quarter million people homeless | |
| 14 April | ELN guerrilla kidnap Fokker airplane with 41 occupants in Bolívar department | |
| 22 April | Serial killer Luis Garavito is found guilty of the murder of 138 boys. (The total number of victims according with Garavito confessions off-record is estimated up to 300 boys and an undetermined number of adults) | |
| 30 May | Mass kidnapping of 70 people in La Maria church in Cali | |
| 13 August | Comedian Jaime Garzón is murdered by hitmen | |
| 13 November | Strong waves from Hurricane Lenny affect the Guajira Peninsula of Colombia, flooding 1,200 homes and businesses along the northern coastline. In addition, winds and rains from the hurricane causes severe crop damage in the country.[19] The hurricane kills two in Colombia.[20] (to 16 November) | |
| 29 November | Date of death of Colombian essayist and historian Germán Arciniegas | |
| 2000 | First Olympic gold medal in Colombian history, earned by María Isabel Urrutia in weightlifting | |
| 30 March | A car bomb parked in front of the mayor's office in Cachipay (Cundinamarca Department) detonated, causing injuries to nineteen and deaths to four | |
| 11 April | ELN bombs damage 4 meetinghouses of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church); bridge attack kills 1, injures 20.[21] | |
| 15 May | A woman was killed by a time bomb fastened to her neck by FARC guerrilla; 1 bomb disposal specialist died trying to deactivate the bomb and other 3 were wounded.[22] The 2007 movie PVC-1 is based in this incident | |
| June | The sport of Precolumbian origin; Turmequé or tejo is declared as the National sport by the Colombian congress | |
| 30 August | USA president Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea visit Cartagena de Indias | |
| 4 September | A 70 kilograms of R1 explosive bomb exploded in Barrancabermeja's commercial district, injuring four policemen, two security guards and two civilians. The intended target was apparently the National Customs and Tax Directorate (DIAN).[23] | |
| October | Macayepo massacre in Montes de María | |
| 15 October | A bomb went off in Cali outside a rehabilitation center in the Obrero neighborhood. Two children were killed and thirty other injured. An explosive device went off in a Christian church in Cali, killing two and injuring fifteen.[24] | |
| 14 November | A guerrilla group gave a homeless man a package that, unbeknownst to him, was filled with explosives. The package exploded as he walked through the banking sector of Cali, killing him and wounding four others. The package reportedly contained 500 grams of ammonium nitrate fuel oil.[25] | |
| 4 December | Politician Fernando Araújo Perdomo is kidnapped by the Farc guerrilla | |
| 18 December | Opening of the mass transportation system Transmilenio in Bogotá |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | The stock markets of Cali, Medellín and Bogotá are fused into a single entity: Bolsa de Valores de Colombia | |
| Singer Shakira Mebarak wins a Grammy Award for her MTV unplugged | ||
| 24 April | the House of Representatives Committee on International Relations published the findings of its investigation into IRA activities in Colombia | |
| 4 May | A car bomb kills four and injures 32 in a luxury hotel in Cali. No group claims the attack.[26] | |
| 17 May | A car bomb kills 20 and injures at least 50 in a park in Medellín.[27] | |
| 11 July | Soccer tournament Copa America 2001 was held in Colombia (to 29 July) | |
| 11 August | Arrest of the Irish Colombia Three charged with training FARC rebels in bomb-making | |
| 23 August | In a series of attacks near Medellín, 10 bombs kill one and injure 39 others.[28] At least 15 members of terrorist group ELN die when the explosives they were carrying detonate.[29] | |
| 29 September | Politician Consuelo Araújo is murdered while being kidnapped by FARC guerrilla | |
| 2002 | 25 January | A bomb kills a child and four police officers and injures 28 people in Bogotá. Rebel group FARC is blamed |
| 30 January | A car bomb kills five and injures 40 in the city of Florencia in the department of Caquetá | |
| 21 February | President Pastrana ended the peace talks and ordered the armed forces to start retaking the FARC-EP controlled zone of San Vicente del Caguan | |
| 24 February | Oxygen Green Party Politician Ingrid Betancourt is kiddnapped by FARC guerrilla | |
| March | President Uribe decided to appoint Marta Lucía Ramírez as Minister of Defense becoming the second woman in Latin America to ever hold this title, after Michelle Bachelet | |
| 7 April | Two bombs explode in the restaurant district of Villavicencio, killing twelve and injuring 70. FARC is the prime suspect for the attack.[30] | |
| 11 April | Two police officers and a girl are killed by a bomb concealed in the corpse of a peasant (Pedro Nel Camacho) apparently executed by the FARC guerrilla with such purpose [31] | |
| 12 April | 12 politicians in Valle del Cauca are kidnapped using a hoax antibomb operative, starting the Valle del Cauca Deputies hostage crisis | |
| A rocket explodes near the studios of RCN TV in Bogotá.[32] | ||
| 14 April | During an assassination attempt of then-presidential candidate Álvaro Uribe Vélez a bomb kills two and injures 20 in Barranquilla. Rebel group FARC is blamed. | |
| 2 May | Bojaya massacre in Chocó Department. A bomb destroys the local church. 117 dead, 114 injured. | |
| 26 May | Cali bishop Isaias Duarte is murdered by hitmen | |
| 7 August | Álvaro Uribe is elected president of Colombia | |
| Four rounds of mortars are fired against the Presidential Palace in Bogotá during the inauguration ceremony of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez. 13 people, mostly homeless, die and 50 are wounded. FARC is blamed.[33] | ||
| 24 November | Guerrilla leader alias Simon Trinidad is extradited to USA | |
| 13 December | A bomb destroys 30th floor of the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Bogotá. 37 people injured.[34] | |
| 2003 | 16 January | A car bomb kills four and injures 27 at a shopping mall in Medellín. The attack is believed to be a retaliation of FARC for the arrest of 53 of its members in the preceding days |
| 7 February | 2003 El Nogal Club bombing. Car bomb kills 36 and injures more than 200 at the El Nogal social club in Bogotá; FARC rebels are blamed | |
| 14 February | A bomb kills 18 and wounds 37 in Neiva, destroying 70 homes. Amongst the dead are the chief prosecutor in Neiva and the chief of police. FARC is blamed for the attack.[35] | |
| 5 March | A car bomb kills six and injures 68 in a covered parking lot in Cúcuta. Rebel group ELN is blamed for the attack.[36] | |
| May | A group of Colombian Army soldiers, part of a Counter-terrorism unit, while cleaning up after an ambush by guerillas makes the surprising discovery of several tubs buried in the jungle which hold US$16.75 million in cash. They decide to keep the money for themselves, leading to their capture and trial. These events are depicted in the 2006 movie A Ton of Luck | |
| 8 May | A bomb kills three in an attack against a water treatment plant in Cali. | |
| 24 August | Six die and 28 are wounded when a bomb explodes in a riverboat in the town of Puerto Rico. Rebel group FARC is blamed.[37] | |
| 11 September | A bomb strapped to a horse kills eight and injures 15 in the village of Chita, Boyacá. The attack is blamed on FARC, as the same technique had been used in the past.[38] | |
| 29 September | A motorcycle packed with explosives kills ten and injures 54 in downtown Florencia, Caquetá. Rebel group FARC is blamed.[39] | |
| 8 October | A car bomb kills six and injures eleven in downtown Bogotá.[40] | |
| 15 November | A grenade attack from a motorcycle kills two and injures seventy in the Bogotá Beer Company, a popular pub in Bogotá. Two FARC members were captured. | |
| December | Biologist Raul Cuero wins NASA Technology Award for his research in removal of radionuclides such as uranium, using Martian simulated soil | |
| 2004 | 15 March | Date of death of popular salsa dancer Amparo Arrebato |
| 1 May | Ecuadorian government placed further stringent visa restrictions on Colombians seeking to enter Ecuador | |
| 22 May | A bomb exploded in a crowded tavern/discothèque at 11:00 pm Saturday night killing six (some reports indicate seven) and wounding eighty-two. The bomb was packed in a small suitcase and left in the bathroom by suspected Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels. It is believed the bombing was part of a FARC campaign marking the organizations 40th anniversary. | |
| 4 August | A bomb exploded at a bridge in Medellín moments before a parade of antique cars was scheduled to cross it, as the closing event at the annual Festival of the Flowers. 35 people injured. | |
| 29 October | A bomb exploded near a bus stop along Bogotá's Transmilenio bus system route. A taxi passing by was caught in the blast resulting in the death of the driver and a passenger. 30 surrounded houses destroyed | |
| 22 November | USA president George W. Bush visits Cartagena de Indias | |
| 28 November | A bomb exploded beside the mayor's office in the Rafael Uribe district of Bogotá | |
| 30 November | Three people were killed and eight wounded when a fragment grenade was left at a supermarket checkout counter | |
| 13 December | Rodrigo Granda affair. FARC guerrilla leader Rodrigo Granda, was captured by individual Venezuelan officials in Caracas, Venezuela, and transferred to Cúcuta, Colombia (a departmental capital on the two nations' common border), where he was arrested by the Colombian authorities on 14 December, generating a diplomatic crisis with Venezuelan government. | |
| 30 December | Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia (RTVC) replaced the liquidated Instituto Nacional de Radio y Televisión (Inravisión) as the government-run radio and television broadcasting service | |
| 2005 | January | Colombian justice adopts the adversarial system |
| 1 February | FARC attacks the Iscuande marine base in Narino Department with homemade rockets, killing 15 soldiers and injuring 25.[41] | |
| 3 February | A bridge was blown up in Putumayo Department, killing eight soldiers and a civilian.[41] | |
| 6 April | An ambush in Arauca state, near Venezuela, kills 17 soldiers.[42] | |
| 24 June | FARC attacks military positions in the location of Puerto Asís in the Putumayo department, killing 25 and wounding 20 in a single operation.[43] | |
| 27 October | The islands of San Andrés and Providencia are evacuated due to Hurricane Beta (2005).[44] Hours later, a hurricane watch was issued.[45] | |
| 27 December | FARC launches a massive attack in the remote village of San Marino in the Chocó Department, killing at least six police officers along with the temporary abduction of some thirty, before they were released by the guerrillas on 20 December due to military pressure.[46] | |
| 28 December | FARC rebels ambush troops near Vista Hermosa, Meta, killing 28.[47] | |
| 2006 | 28 May | Álvaro Uribe is re-elected for a second presidential term |
| 31 July | 16 soldiers die in an ambush in Tibú and a car bomb kills one and injures 22 in Bogotá. Both attacks are blamed on FARC.[48] | |
| 4 August | A car bomb kills five outside a police station in Cali. FARC suspected responsible.[49] | |
| 19 October | A car bomb explodes in a military college in northern Bogotá.[50] | |
| 9 November | The Supreme Court ordered the detention of three congressmen implicated in the signature of an illegal agreement with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia at Santa Fe de Ralito starting the Colombian parapolitics scandal | |
| December | First Narco submarines of Colombian origin seized by the U.S. Coast Guard, authorities dubbed it Bigfoot because they had heard rumors that such things existed, but nobody had actually seen one.[51] | |
| 10 December | Paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso surrenders to the Colombian authorities | |
| 2007 | 5 January | kidnapped politician Fernando Araújo Perdomo escaped from his captors after a Colombian National Army military operation in the Montes de María mountains. Araújo spent several days in hiding without food or water until eventually finding help. |
| 1 March | Ten injured in a car bomb blast in Neiva, capital of Huila; rebel group FARC is believed responsible. The action is suspected to be an assassination attempt on Neiva's mayor.[52] | |
| 3 March | A bomb kills four police officers and one civilian in the city of Neiva, as they attempt to deactivate it | |
| 16 March | A bomb kills 16 and injures 16 in Buenaventura. Authorities blame FARC.[53] | |
| 7 April | The first Colombian satellite, Libertad I is launched in orbit from Baikonur cosmodrome | |
| 28 April | Kidnapped police officer Jhon Frank Pinchao escapes from the FARC guerrilla spending near a month lost in the jungle | |
| May | Virginia Vallejo, media personality and former lover of Pablo Escobar, published her memoir Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), where she accused several Colombian presidents of involvement with drug traffickers | |
| 28 June | Murder of the politicians kidnapped in the Valle del Cauca Deputies hostage crisis causes national outrage | |
| 7 September | Colombian coffee achieves Protected designation of origin status granted by the European Union[54] | |
| 13 December | International Court of Justice of The Hague concluded the long-time dispute with the Republic of Nicaragua over the San Andrés y Providencia Islands in favor of Colombian sovereignty over the San Andres Archipelago, ratifying the Esguerra-Bárcenas treaty.[55] signed between 1928 and 1930[56] | |
| 2008 | 10 January | Former vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas and former congresswoman Consuelo González are freed after nearly six years in captivity |
| 1 March | The Colombian military attacks a FARC camp inside Ecuador's territory. Several guerrilla casualties including guerrilla leader Raul Reyes starting the 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis | |
| 3 March | Iván Ríos, a member of the FARC Central High Command was killed by his security chief "Rojas". | |
| 26 March | Guerrilla commander Manuel Marulanda Vélez dies | |
| 18 May | Guerrilla leader Elda Neyis Mosquera alias "Karina" surrenders herself to the military forces | |
| 2 July | Under a Colombian military operation called Operation Jaque, the FARC was tricked by the Colombian Government into releasing 15 hostages to Colombian Intelligence agents, including Ingrid Betancourt, U.S military contractors, and Colombian soldiers and police officers | |
| 15 August | Ituango, Antioquia. Seven people were killed and more than 50 wounded when a bomb detonated in a small town | |
| 21 August | Colombia has chosen the European DVB-T standard for Digital terrestrial television | |
| 30 October | Accusations of Colombian army soldiers involved with criminal bands with the purpose of luring unsuspecting unemployed or homeless people into isolated areas where they were murdered and the scenes were staged as combats against guerrilla in order to enhance their achievements and get performance-related payments, were investigated. The events, known as the 'false positives' scandal, led to the resignation of Commander-in-chief, general Mario Montoya.[57] As of 2012, 3,350 such cases had been investigated in all parts of the country and verdicts had been reached in 170 cases.[58] | |
| 12 November | Riots broke out in the municipalities of Pasto, Tumaco, Popayán and later spread all over the country after the collapse of several pyramid schemes. Thousands of victims had invested their money in pyramids that promised them extraordinary interest rates. The lack of regulation laws allowed those pyramids to grow excessively during several years. Finally, after the riots the Colombian government was forced to declare the country in economical emergency in order to seize and stop those schemes. Several of the pyramid's managers were arrested and are being prosecuted for the crime of "illegal massive money reception".[59] | |
| 22 November | Colombia and Canada signed a new $1.14 billion dollar bilateral trade agreement (the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement) at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. | |
| 2009 | 8 January | Colombian drug lord and head of the Caqueta cartel Leonidas Vargas is murdered inside a hospital. his brother(Héctor Fabio Vargas) and his girlfriend (Colombian actress Liliana Andrea Lozano) were tortured and murdered[60] in Pradera, Colombia.[61] |
| Recognition of same-sex unions in Colombia is achieved by rule of the Constitutional Court | ||
| 11 January | Reports of mass murders of Awá (kwaiker) indigenous people by FARC guerrilla | |
| February | Colombia has extended its existing tobacco control regulations by a smoking ban requiring all indoor work places and public places be immediately smoke-free, prohibiting tobacco advertising, promotions and sponsorship | |
| February | the fossils of 28 individual Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever discovered, were announced to have been found in the coal mines of Cerrejón in La Guajira, Colombia.[62] | |
| March | The Álvarez incest case was uncovered when 59-year-old Arcedio Álvarez was arrested in Mariquita, Colombia, accused of sexually abusing his now 30-year-old daughter Alba Nidia Álvarez since the age of 9.[63] The daughter also gave birth to 11 children, three of whom died.[64] | |
| March | the Colombian government enacted a mandate to introduce E85 flexible-fuel vehicles | |
| 15 March | Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo gets ranked in the Forbes list of world billionaires.[65] | |
| April | The Colombian armed forces launched Strategic Leap,[66] an offensive in borders areas where the FARC's forces has still a strong military presence, especially in Arauca, near the Venezuelan border.[67] | |
| April | Colombian drug lord Daniel Rendón Herrera alias Don "Mario" is captured while hiding in a jungle.[68] | |
| 13 May | Vallenato composer and troubadour Rafael Escalona dies due to heart failure.[69] | |
| 14 May | During his visit to Colombia, the Czech Republic Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek negotiated a possible sale of Aero L-159 Alca combat aircraft with Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.[70][71] | |
| June | Clara Guerrero wins Women's World Championship World Ranking Masters | |
| July 2009 | The Colombian government claimed that AT4 anti-tank rockets manufactured by Saab Bofors Dynamics of Sweden, which were later purchased by Venezuela were being used by the FARC. In response, President Chavez ordered most staff members of the embassy in Colombia to return to Venezuela, including the ambassador. Only the "lowest functionaries" were left to staff the embassy.[72] | |
| 18 July | Ricardo Londoño, Colombia's first Formula One driver is murdered in the north Colombian Córdoba Department. | |
| 8 August | Cuban artist Tania Bruguera sets a controversial performance in the National University of Colombia (Bogotá branch), included consumption of cocaine[73] provided by the artist to the attendants.[74][75] | |
| 30 August | President Álvaro Uribe had contracted the AH1N1 flu virus, becoming the second head of state to do so (the first being Óscar Arias).[76] | |
| 11 September | A group of eradicators of Coca crops near the village of La Gabarra, Municipality of Tibú, Norte de Santander is attacked by guerrilla forces with a donkey with bombs attached to it. 2 people deceased[77] |
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