Colombia's Culture Minister Cancels National Stimulus Awards, Ending 27-Year Tradition

Colombia's Minister of Culture, Paola Holguín, has cancelled the national awards and recognitions of the Portafolio Nacional de Estímulos (PNE) for the first time in 27 years and one day before results were to be published. The cancellation is stipulated in Resolution 1887 of September 14, 2026. This decision affects 1,308 proposals that will no longer be evaluated. The PNE awards had never been cancelled before, not even during the pandemic when the economy was paralyzed. The resources for the awards were already secured in the national budget, and critics argue the earthquake could have been used as an opportunity to strengthen cultural processes. Holguín, who has a master's degree in security and defense from the Escuela de Guerra de Bogotá, had only two prior cultural engagements in her political career: a 2013 tweet with José Obdulio Gaviria and a mascot called Súper Cuy, and authoring a law that declared the carriel antioqueño as national heritage (Law 2139 of 2021). Her decision to cancel the PNE is seen as part of a cultural battle to dismantle institutional programs and frameworks, leading to the deinstitutionalization of culture in Colombia. The cancellation has sparked criticism about her frivolous approach to culture and lack of suitability for the role.