Colombia - May 2025

On 5 May, President Petro approved Decree 488-2025, redefining the role of Indigenous communities in administering and making decisions about their territories. The decree formalizes Indigenous Territorial Entities (ETIs), a political-administrative division established in Colombia’s 1991 Constitution but long unregulated and ineffective. It allows communities to request the Ministry of the Interior to delimit and recognize their territories as ETIs, transferring key administrative and political rights. They will be able to veto infrastructure or extractive projects or activities based on a ‘cultural objection’ when authorities judge a threat to territorial, cultural or spiritual rights. ETIs will also gain access to public funds—such as royalties and General System of Participations transfers—allowing for autonomous budget management. Indigenous communities have welcomed the decree, and experts praised it as a historic victory for Colombia’s Indigenous peoples and a major step toward self-determination.

Sources: AP News, El Pais, Mongabay, Función Pública Colombia