Colombia’s Statistics Agency Was Told Not to Present Its Own Numbers
COLOMBIA · PRESS FREEDOM
Key Facts
- —The cancellation DANE’s inflation press conference was called off 30 minutes before it was due to start.
- —Who ordered it The presidency, according to an internal source cited by La Silla Vacía on 10 September.
- —The rule invoked A directive that no state body may speak to the press without official clearance.
- —Who objected Three former DANE directors: Juan Daniel Oviedo, Piedad Urdinola and César Caballero.
- —The law Law 2335 of 2023, which protects the statistics agency’s technical independence.
- —The wider context The press freedom group FLIP has criticised the same presidential directive.
A statistics agency that cannot hold a press conference about inflation is not an administrative problem. It is a data problem.
Colombia’s national statistics agency cancelled its inflation press conference half an hour before it was due to begin, on an order from the presidency, according to reporting by La Silla Vacía.
What Happened
La Silla Vacía reported on 10 September, citing an internal DANE source, that director Ricardo Valencia was instructed to cancel the August and September inflation presentation 30 minutes before it was scheduled.
The instruction invoked a broader directive that no state entity may speak with the press without official clearance.
DANE publishes the consumer price index, the unemployment series and the national accounts. Its press conferences are where the methodology behind those numbers gets explained and questioned.
Why the Former Directors Objected
Juan Daniel Oviedo, Piedad Urdinola and César Caballero, who have all run the agency, said publicly that the instruction violates DANE’s technical independence under Law 2335 of 2023.
That law exists because statistical independence is a specific institutional good. Investors, ratings agencies, the central bank and the government’s own planners all need to believe the numbers were produced without political filtering.
Argentina spent most of a decade demonstrating what happens when that belief goes. INDEC’s inflation series lost credibility under political interference and it took years and an entirely new methodology to restore it.
The Broader Directive
The press freedom organisation FLIP has criticised the presidential directive restricting official communication with the media, and has asked the De la Espriella government for concrete guarantees after its first month.
A communications policy that routes every agency through the presidency is a defensible thing for a new government to want and an indefensible thing to apply to a statistics agency.
The numbers themselves have not been challenged. What was cancelled was the opportunity to ask about them, which is a smaller thing and a worse precedent.
Why Statistical Independence Is Treated Differently
Most government communication can reasonably be coordinated through a central press operation. A statistics agency cannot, because the value of its output depends on the perception that no one edited it.
That is why Colombia legislated the point. Law 2335 of 2023 gives DANE technical autonomy specifically so that inflation and unemployment figures are produced and presented without political filtering.
The figures in question are consequential. The consumer price index sets the minimum wage adjustment, indexes contracts and pensions, and feeds directly into the central bank’s rate decisions.
The Argentine Precedent
Argentina offers the clearest example of what happens when this goes wrong. From 2007 INDEC’s inflation series diverged so far from observed prices that private economists published their own index, the IMF censured Argentina, and inflation-linked bond holders went to court.
Rebuilding took years. A new government replaced the methodology in 2016 and the series was treated with suspicion long after the numbers themselves had become sound.
Nothing on that scale has happened in Colombia. A cancelled press conference is not a manipulated index, and the distinction matters.
What the Argentine case establishes is how cheap the first step is and how expensive the recovery is. Institutions of this kind are far easier to damage than to repair.
More: Colombia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was cancelled?
DANE’s press conference on the August and September inflation figures, 30 minutes before it was due to start.
Who ordered it?
The presidency, according to an internal DANE source cited by La Silla Vacía on 10 September 2026.
Who objected?
Former DANE directors Juan Daniel Oviedo, Piedad Urdinola and César Caballero, citing Law 2335 of 2023.
What does that law do?
It protects the technical independence of Colombia’s national statistics agency.
Have the numbers been challenged?
No. What was cancelled was the presentation, not the data.
Sources: La Silla Vacia, Cambio Colombia, Infobae, FLIP.
This article was drafted with automated assistance and reviewed before publication. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
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