LatinNews Daily - 16 January 2026

*Colombia’s national federation of departments (FND), which groups together the country’s 32 governors, announced yesterday that it is preparing a legal challenge in the constitutional court against President Gustavo Petro’s 29 December decree which increased taxes following the declaration of an ‘economic emergency’ to justify the hikes. The FND rejected an increase in the rate of value-added tax (VAT) from 5% to 19% and a rise in the consumption tax, saying that these threaten the “financial sustainability of territorial entities” as well as posing challenges for “territorial governance, the fiscal autonomy of departments, and the guarantee of fundamental rights”. Petro is determined to avoid spending cuts ahead of the May presidential election, in which Senator Iván Cepeda is the continuity candidate for the left-wing Pacto Histórico, and has instead turned to tax hikes and borrowing to cover a shortfall in the 2026 budget. Meanwhile, Petro has carried out a partial cabinet reshuffle, with local media yesterday reporting the departure from government of Angie Rodríguez, the director of the administrative department of the presidency (Dapre); Equality Minister Juan Carlos Florián; and Jorge Lemus, the director of the national intelligence service (DNI). Lemus will reportedly be replaced as DNI director by René Guarín, who like Petro is a former member of the M-19 guerrilla group. Lemus has reportedly been rotated to lead the financial information and analysis unit (Uiaf), while Rodríguez will run the government’s climate adaptation fund.

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