Colombia Bill Would Adopt US Terror Listings in 5 Days

COLOMBIA · SECURITY

A draft that ties Colombia’s planned terror registry to Washington’s designations faces its first official review, as the opposition warns of abuse.

Colombia’s draft anti-terrorism bill would put any group or person the United States designates as a terrorist on a new national registry. That listing would be provisional but immediate, with assets frozen within 24 hours.

Conservative President Abelardo De La Espriella’s government is due to present the 116-page draft on Thursday, 8 October. The Criminal Policy Council, a state body that advises on crime laws, will review it first.

On Wednesday, opposition leader Iván Cepeda said giving domestic effect to foreign states’ decisions would breach Colombia’s judicial sovereignty.

What the Anti-Terrorism Bill Says

The text is labelled a working version from September 2026. It carries the names of Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara, Defence Minister Jorge Eduardo Mora López and Justice Minister Iván Cancino.

Caracol Radio reported its contents on Tuesday evening, and El Espectador posted the full draft on Wednesday.

At its core is a National Registry of Terrorist Organisations and Actors, run by the National Security Council. Anyone could search it by name, and banks, insurers, exchange houses and notaries would have to check it.

There are three routes onto the registry. Names on UN Security Council sanctions lists would enter automatically within five days.

Terrorist designations by the United States, the European Union or other states named by decree would trigger “immediate provisional inclusion”. A technical panel would record it within five days; the council would then have 90 days to confirm or revoke it.

The council could also add groups on its own initiative. Those listed could ask to be removed at any time, with appeals going to the Consejo de Estado, Colombia’s top administrative court.

Listing would bar access to state contracts and subsidies. A new sanctions authority in the UIAF, the financial intelligence unit, would freeze funds within 24 hours.

The Washington Link

The draft lets the sanctions authority sign cooperation agreements with the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Colombians call OFAC’s sanctions list the “Clinton List”.

It would also absorb a list that Colombia’s National Security Council adopted on 17 January 2020. The draft’s explanatory memo says that list combined the US State Department’s foreign terrorist list with EU lists.

Washington already treats Colombia’s main armed groups as terrorists. Treasury’s list tags the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, the Clan del Golfo drug gang and two FARC splinters as terrorist organisations.

Lara said in August that the targets include FARC dissident factions and the ELN, La Silla Vacía reported.

Each year, the government would report to Congress on extraditions, assets frozen abroad and foreign designations obtained.

New Crimes, Crypto Licences and Gold Checks

The draft creates a crime of material support for a listed group, punishable by 13 to 22 years in prison. Using drones for terrorism would carry 10 to 20 years.

Members who cooperate and admit terrorism charges early, before the formal charging hearing, could see sentences cut by up to 60%.

Crypto-asset service providers operating in Colombia would need a licence and would have to freeze wallets on the authority’s orders. Strategic minerals worth US$10,000 or more would have to be declared at the border.

Another chapter says military operations against armed groups follow international humanitarian law, including air strikes.

Rights petitions against the president or defence officials over security operations would go straight to the Consejo de Estado. The president would also get six months of decree powers to set up a High Commissioner against Terrorism, appointed for five years.

Why the Opposition Objects

Cepeda, a senator for the leftist Pacto Histórico who heads the opposition, wrote that the draft would install “an openly dictatorial regime”. He said listing people without a prior hearing violates the presumption of innocence.

El Tiempo, the Bogotá daily, reported fears that the foreign-designation clause could reach former President Gustavo Petro, the party’s honorary president. Petro remains on the OFAC list.

Treasury records, however, list Petro under a drug-trafficking sanctions programme, not a terrorism one. The draft covers designations of people or groups “as terrorist”.

The Interior Ministry has said the text is a draft, not the final version, El Tiempo reported. Parties allied with the government have said they will back it.

What It Means for You

For US companies and investors in Colombia, a US terrorist designation would carry direct legal weight inside the country. Local banks, insurers and trade firms would face screening duties tied partly to Washington’s lists.

Crypto platforms and gold traders would face new licensing and tracing rules. The bill would bring Colombian law closer to US practice on armed groups.

Nothing changes yet for travellers or businesses. The registry does not exist until Congress passes the law and the courts clear it.

What Is Not Known

It is not known whether the clause on foreign designations will survive the council’s review and Congress. Nor is it known which groups the National Security Council would list first.

How the government would treat US listings made under drug programmes, like Petro’s, has not been spelled out.

What Comes Next

After the council’s review, the government plans to file the bill with the first committees of Congress. El Espectador reported that debate could start within two weeks.

As a statutory law, it needs an absolute majority within one legislative year, then Constitutional Court review. Until it becomes law, the bill lists no one, and it imposes no US sanctions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Colombia’s anti-terrorism bill?

It is a draft law from President Abelardo De La Espriella’s government creating a terror registry, new crimes and asset freezes. It is due before the Criminal Policy Council on Thursday, 8 October.

How would US designations affect Colombia?

A US terrorist designation would put the group or person on Colombia’s registry provisionally at once. Colombia’s National Security Council would then have 90 days to confirm or revoke it.

Which Colombian groups does the US list as terrorists?

The US Treasury’s sanctions list tags the ELN, the Clan del Golfo and two FARC splinter groups as foreign terrorist organisations. Colombia’s own registry would be built by its National Security Council.

Could Gustavo Petro end up on the registry?

Some in his leftist party fear so because he is on the OFAC list. But Treasury lists him under a drug-trafficking programme, and the draft covers terrorist designations.

When could the law take effect?

It must pass Congress by an absolute majority within one legislative year and then clear the Constitutional Court. The government wants it working before the end of 2026, El Espectador reported.

Sources: Ministries of Interior, Defence and Justice, draft anti-terrorism bill, working version (September 2026); US Treasury, OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list; US Treasury, OFAC recent actions (5 October 2026); Ministry of the Interior of Colombia; Caracol Radio; Caracol Radio, Cepeda reaction; El Espectador; El Tiempo; La Silla Vacía (all accessed 8 October 2026).