4 October 2026
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Colombia, with its epicentre at San Jose Del Palmar in the Choco region, about 400 km west of Bogota, at a depth of 107 km.
At least 132 people were killed and 570 others injured.
President Abelardo de la Espriella declared a national state of emergency, saying the first priority was rescuing people trapped under the rubble.
In Cali, the country's third-largest city, at least 20 buildings collapsed and 380 were damaged; Pereira, Quibdo and Manizales were also hit.
At least 21 aftershocks followed within hours and several airports suspended operations for structural inspections.
The Colombian Geological Service said it was the country's strongest recorded earthquake in the 21st century.
Magnitude:
7.4
Epicentre:
San Jose Del Palmar, Choco
Depth:
107 km
Deaths:
At least 132
Injured:
570
Why it matters for exams: Major earthquakes are asked with their magnitude, epicentre and tectonic setting, and this one also fixes the name of Colombia's current President.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Aftershock A smaller earthquake following a larger one — Aftershocks occur in the same area as the main shock as the ground settles.
4 October 2026
Colombia's Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio told the United Nations Security Council, on 21 April 2026, that implementation of the peace agreement is a policy of State and that peace in Colombia is regional peace.
She reported that 11 Tripartite Security and Protection bodies had been activated.
More than 2 million hectares have been formalised, about 30 per cent of the target set in the agreement.
More than 305,000 hectares have been redistributed to peasants and ethnic communities since 2022.
In the Catatumbo region, 70 per cent of the land distributed benefited women.
She urged the United Nations Secretary-General to avoid further reductions in the financing of the UN Verification Mission, calling its accompaniment a hope of peace for Colombia.
Land formalised:
Over 2 million hectares, about 30 per cent of the target
Land redistributed since 2022:
More than 305,000 hectares
Tripartite bodies activated:
11
Share of Catatumbo land going to women:
70 per cent
Why it matters for exams: The land-formalisation and redistribution figures give concrete numbers for the implementation of a peace agreement studied in international relations papers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Land formalisation Granting legal title to land already occupied — It gives occupants recognised ownership papers rather than transferring new land to them.
Background
UNESCO's State Party record for Colombia lists 9 properties inscribed on the World Heritage List — 6 cultural, 2 natural and 1 mixed.
The cultural properties are the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia, the Historic Centre of Santa Cruz de Mompox, the National Archeological Park of Tierradentro, Port, Fortresses and Group of Monuments, Cartagena, Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System and San Agustín Archaeological Park.
The two natural properties are Los Katíos National Park and Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary.
The single mixed property, inscribed for both cultural and natural value, is Chiribiquete National Park.
Port, Fortresses and Group of Monuments, Cartagena is recorded with the year 1984 and the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia with 2011.
Colombia's acceptance of the World Heritage Convention is recorded as 24 May 1983, and the country's Tentative List carries 13 sites, among them the Seaflower Marine Protected Area and the Tayrona and Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Parks.
Properties inscribed on the World Heritage List:
9
Acceptance of the Convention:
24 May 1983
The mixed property:
Chiribiquete National Park
Marine natural property:
Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary
The walled port city:
Port, Fortresses and Group of Monuments, Cartagena
The coffee-growing landscape:
Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia
Why it matters for exams: World Heritage counts and the names of inscribed properties are asked directly, and the mixed category is a common point of confusion.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Mixed property mixed World Heritage property — A property inscribed on the World Heritage List for both cultural and natural value.
Tentative List Tentative List — An inventory of the properties a State Party intends to consider for nomination to the World Heritage List.
Background
The Convention on Biological Diversity's country profile lists Colombia as one of the world's megadiverse countries, hosting close to 10% of the planet's biodiversity.
Worldwide it ranks first in bird and orchid species diversity and second in plants, butterflies, freshwater fishes and amphibians.
The profile counts 314 types of ecosystems in the country.
Colombia's large watersheds feed into the sub-continental basins the profile names as the Amazon, Orinoco, Caribbean, Magdalena-Cauca and the Pacific.
Areas of high biological diversity are found in the Andean ecosystems, followed by the Amazon rainforests and the humid ecosystems in the Chocó biogeographical area.
The profile records that 53% of the mainland is still covered with natural forests, while the dry forests are among the most threatened, reduced to around 2% of their original extension.
About 2% of the Colombian mainland is covered by moorlands, which the profile calls one of the most important ecosystems for human well-being because of the water they supply to more than three-quarters of the population in those areas.
Colombia has been a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity since 1995-02-26, by ratification.
Biodiversity status:
megadiverse
Share of the planet's biodiversity:
close to 10%
Where Colombia ranks first:
ranks first in bird and orchid species diversity
Types of ecosystems:
314 types of ecosystems
Party to the Convention since:
1995-02-26
Mainland under natural forest:
53% of the mainland is still covered with natural forests
Why it matters for exams: Megadiversity, the species a country leads the world in, and its river basins are standard environment and geography questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CBD Convention on Biological Diversity — The international treaty on biological diversity, to which Colombia is a Party by ratification.
Background
On 6 December 2001 the Republic of Nicaragua filed an Application instituting proceedings against the Republic of Colombia before the International Court of Justice, over what it described as legal issues concerning title to territory and maritime delimitation.
Colombia filed preliminary objections to jurisdiction on 21 July 2003, which suspended the proceedings on the merits.
In its Judgment on the preliminary objections, rendered on 13 December 2007, the Court found that the treaty signed in 1928 between Colombia and Nicaragua had settled the issue of sovereignty over the islands of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina.
On 4 May 2011 the Court rendered two Judgments, ruling that the applications of Costa Rica and of Honduras for permission to intervene could not be granted.
In its Judgment on the merits, rendered on 19 November 2012, the Court found that Colombia has sovereignty over the maritime features in dispute — the Alburquerque Cays, the East-Southeast Cays, Roncador, Serrana, Quitasueño, Serranilla and Bajo Nuevo — and drew a single maritime boundary.
The Court's record notes that Quitasueño comprises only a single, tiny island, known as QS 32, together with a number of low-tide elevations.
Name of the case:
Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia)
Application instituting proceedings filed:
6 December 2001
Judgment on the preliminary objections:
13 December 2007
Judgment on the merits:
19 November 2012
Islands the 1928 treaty settled:
San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina
What the Court drew:
single maritime boundary
Why it matters for exams: An International Court of Justice judgment on an island and maritime boundary dispute is asked both as a case name and as a point of the law of the sea.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ICJ International Court of Justice — The principal judicial organ of the United Nations, which decides legal disputes submitted to it by States.
Preliminary objections preliminary objections — Objections a respondent State raises to the Court's jurisdiction or to the admissibility of a claim, before the merits are heard.
Background
Colombia and India established diplomatic relations on 19 January 1959 and celebrated 65 years of those ties in 2024.
Colombia opened its Embassy in New Delhi in March 1972, and India opened its Embassy in Colombia in 1973.
The Foreign Office Consultations mechanism was established in 1995, and the tenth round took place on 15 October 2024 in New Delhi.
In 2024-25 bilateral trade stood at USD 4.72 billion, with exports from India to Colombia at USD 1.47 billion and imports from Colombia to India at USD 3.25 billion.
India's imports from Colombia mainly comprise mineral fuels such as oil and coal, gold, precious stones led by emeralds, aluminum, zinc, wood and plastic.
India's main items of exports to Colombia include vehicles such as motorcycles, engineering goods, chemicals, cotton, pharmaceuticals and iron and steel products.
Indian investment in Colombia is estimated at USD 500 million, excluding the investment of ONGC Videsh Ltd, and the Indian Community comprises approximately 1200 members, a majority of them professionals employed with Indian companies based in Colombia.
Diplomatic relations established:
19 January 1959
Colombia's Embassy in New Delhi opened:
March 1972
Bilateral trade, 2024-25:
USD 4.72 billion
India's exports to Colombia, 2024-25:
USD 1.47 billion
Imports from Colombia to India, 2024-25:
USD 3.25 billion
Indian investment in Colombia:
USD 500 million
Size of the Indian Community:
approximately 1200 members
Why it matters for exams: The year relations were established, the direction of the trade balance and the size of the Indian community are the three India-relationship facts asked about every country.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Foreign Office Consultations Foreign Office Consultations — A standing bilateral mechanism in which the foreign ministries of two countries meet in rounds to review their relations.
Background
Colombia's central bank is the Banco de la República, and the statute that governs it is Ley 31 de 1992.
Article 7 of that law gives the Bank the state attribute of issuing legal tender — emitir la moneda legal, made up of banknotes and metal coin — en forma exclusiva e indelegable: the power is the Bank's alone, and it cannot be delegated to anyone else.
Article 6 of the same law names the peso as the country's unidad monetaria, its monetary unit and unit of account.
Article 1 places the Bank's central-banking functions under the Constitution together with that law, and article 373 of the Constitution, promulgated in 1991, charges the State, acting through the Bank, with maintaining the purchasing power of the currency.
The Bank pursues that mandate through an inflation-targeting framework, and its policy target is recorded as an inflation target of 3%.
It keeps a range between 2% and 4% around that target; the range is a band around the target and not a target in itself, and the target is measured as the year-over-year change in total CPI.
Law on the issue of currency:
Ley 31 de 1992
Nature of the issuing power:
exclusiva e indelegable
Monetary unit and unit of account:
peso
Year of the Constitution that set the Bank's mandate:
1991
Constitutional article on that mandate:
373
Inflation target:
3%
Range around the target, not a target in itself:
between 2% and 4%
Index the target is measured on:
total CPI
Why it matters for exams: A central bank's issuing monopoly and its numerical inflation target are the two facts most often asked about any country's monetary framework.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
moneda legal legal tender — The money a state recognises for the settlement of debts, which in Colombia only the Banco de la República may issue.
exclusiva e indelegable exclusive and not capable of being delegated — The form in which Ley 31 de 1992 vests the issue of legal tender in the Banco de la República: the power belongs to the Bank alone and it cannot hand that power to anyone else.
Background
Colombia and India established diplomatic relations on 19 January 1959.
Colombia opened its embassy in New Delhi in March 1972, and India opened its embassy in Colombia in 1973.
Indian investment in Colombia is about USD 500 million, excluding ONGC Videsh's USD 1.5 billion of hydrocarbon investments; Colombian investment in India is about USD 5 million.
Indian companies operating in Colombia include TCS, Infosys and Wipro in information technology, CIPLA and Dr Reddy's in pharmaceuticals, Bajaj and Hero in automobiles, and ONGC Videsh in oil exploration.
India's main items of export to Colombia include vehicles such as motorcycles, engineering goods, chemicals, cotton, pharmaceuticals and iron and steel products.
The 10th Foreign Office Consultations were held on 15 October 2024, when an Audio-Visual Co-production Agreement was signed.
Diplomatic relations established:
19 January 1959
Colombia's embassy in New Delhi:
March 1972
India's embassy in Colombia:
1973
Indian investment in Colombia:
About USD 500 million
Why it matters for exams: India's bilateral ties with Latin American states are a standard examination topic, and the founding year and the list of Indian companies are the details most often asked.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Foreign Office Consultations Foreign Office Consultations — A regular official-level dialogue between two foreign ministries to review the whole bilateral relationship.
Background
The National Liberation Army, in Spanish Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional or ELN, is estimated at between 2,500 and almost 6,200 members and operates in north-western, south-western and eastern departments and near the Venezuelan border.
The Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia, also called the Gulf Clan or Clan del Golfo, is estimated at between 1,200 and 9,000 members and is reported present in more than 200 of Colombia's 1,123 municipalities, with traditional strongholds in Antioquia, Choco and Cordoba.
Groups formed by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia who did not demobilise include the Estado Mayor Central and the Segunda Marquetalia; FARC dissident groups have a presence in 119 municipalities, almost 11 per cent of the country's total.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, demobilised following the peace accord with the government, after which dissident factions re-formed.
All armed groups and criminal gangs together are estimated at between 17,600 and 36,000 members.
ELN estimated strength:
2,500 to almost 6,200
Gulf Clan estimated strength:
1,200 to 9,000
Municipalities in Colombia:
1,123
All armed groups and gangs:
17,600 to 36,000 members
Why it matters for exams: The names and abbreviations of Colombia's armed groups recur in questions on the country's peace process and on internal conflicts generally.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ELN Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional, the National Liberation Army — A Colombian armed group active mainly in the country's north-west, south-west and east.
FARC Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — The guerrilla group that demobilised under the peace accord with the Colombian government.