Colombia Prison Transfer Reversed: Ex-Senator Guerra Back in La Picota

COLOMBIA · JUSTICE

A Colombia prison transfer that moved an ex-senator convicted in the Odebrecht case from Bogotá to a jail in Sucre was undone. The reversal came a day after public criticism.

La Picota prison complex in southern Bogotá, where ex-senator Antonio Guerra de la Espriella was ordered back on 29 September 2026.

Colombia’s prison service ordered ex-senator Antonio del Cristo Guerra de la Espriella back to Bogotá’s La Picota prison on 29 September 2026. The order reverses his transfer earlier this month to La Vega prison in Sincelejo, capital of the northern department of Sucre.

A transfer undone in one day

The Instituto Nacional Penitenciario y Carcelario (INPEC) runs Colombia’s prisons. On 29 September it ordered Guerra moved from La Vega prison in Sincelejo to La Picota’s ERE Sur wing.

The resolution demands maximum security measures and support from the security forces. La Silla Vacía, an investigative political news site in Bogotá, reported it at 4:01 p.m. Bogotá time (21:01 UTC).

Guerra had been held in La Picota until early September. He spent about three weeks in Sincelejo, according to KienyKe, a Colombian news site.

Who reversed it

The formal decision came from INPEC, the prison service, not from a presidential decree. KienyKe reported at 4:59 p.m. Bogotá time that President Abelardo de la Espriella asked for explanations once he learned of the case.

According to KienyKe, the president then instructed INPEC to return Guerra to La Picota. KienyKe also reported that the earlier transfer was not ordered by the president.

The opposition tells a different story. Senator Iván Cepeda wrote that Guerra returned to La Picota only after he raised the case in public.

“Se frustró esta movida,” Cepeda wrote on X. In English: this move was frustrated.

The cathedral of Sincelejo, capital of Sucre, where Guerra had been moved to La Vega prison earlier in September.

The garrison that was never reached

On 28 September, Cepeda said Guerra had been moved to a military garrison in Corozal, Sucre. Cepeda sits for the left-wing Pacto Histórico and lost the June 2026 presidential runoff to De la Espriella.

The Ministry of Justice denied it on 29 September. It said Guerra was in the Sincelejo prison under INPEC custody, not in a garrison or a police station.

Both claims held part of the truth. A resolution signed on 10 September had ordered his transfer to that garrison, La Silla Vacía reported.

KienyKe reported that this garrison transfer never took place. INPEC has not explained publicly why the 10 September order was issued.

Who Antonio Guerra de la Espriella is

Guerra is a former senator for Cambio Radical, a centre-right party. Police captured him in 2019 in the Odebrecht investigation, La Silla Vacía reported.

Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction group, offered bribes in exchange for large infrastructure contracts in Colombia. It sought a legal-stability contract, which guarantees a company’s tax conditions, the Supreme Court said.

According to the ruling, Guerra used his seat in Congress to take money in exchange for intervening on that contract. The payments showed up as an unexplained rise in his personal wealth.

On 7 April 2025, the Supreme Court’s criminal cassation chamber confirmed his conviction for illicit enrichment and influence peddling. It acquitted him of conspiracy and set the sentence at 11 years and five months.

The Capitolio Nacional in Bogotá, seat of Colombia’s Congress, where Guerra served as a senator before his Odebrecht conviction.

A president’s promise on prison privileges

The episode tests a promise De la Espriella made in a televised address in September. He ordered a review of inmates held in military garrisons or police stations without meeting the legal conditions.

Under that order, INPEC moved senator-elect Wadith Manzur from a police academy to La Picota in mid-September, La Silla Vacía reported. Manzur is prosecuted over a corruption scandal at the national disaster-relief agency.

The transfers follow a model the president openly cites: El Salvador. Gang leaders moved under his orders have been shaved and handcuffed at hands and feet, La Silla Vacía reported.

Cepeda then asked whether Guerra, whose second surname is De la Espriella, is related to the president. No family tie has been confirmed.

What it means

For readers following Colombia’s new government, the case shows both pressure and correction at work. An opposition senator exposed an order, and the prison service reversed it within a day.

The same government has adopted a hard line on its opponents abroad. De la Espriella welcomed United States visa revocations against two figures he had named and pointed to possible Treasury sanctions next.

The open questions are why the 10 September order was signed and who asked for it. The answers will show whether the promise on prison privileges applies evenly.

More: Colombia news, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Antonio Guerra de la Espriella?

He is a former Colombian senator for the Cambio Radical party. In April 2025 the Supreme Court confirmed an 11-year, five-month sentence for influence peddling and illicit enrichment in the Odebrecht case.

Did the president reverse the Colombia prison transfer?

The formal order came from INPEC, Colombia’s prison service, in a resolution dated 29 September 2026. KienyKe reported that President Abelardo de la Espriella asked for explanations and instructed INPEC to act.

Is Antonio Guerra related to President De la Espriella?

Opposition senator Iván Cepeda asked the question publicly because of the shared surname. No family link has been confirmed.

Sources: La Silla Vacía · La Silla Vacía · KienyKe · Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia