Music, art and sport: what you’re missing in Bogotá

Shakira is having a full-blown renaissance after releasing her first album in seven years and Colombia is loving it. Two decades after the pop superstar won her first Grammy she is back on the world stage with her sell-out Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran tour.

The 48-year-old headlined in Medellín last month and her latest album, which translates as Women No Longer Cry, reflects on heartbreak and betrayal after her much-­publicised split from Gerard Piqué. The singer reportedly only suspected the former Barcelona footballer was ­cheating on her with a younger woman after discovering someone had been eating her jam.

It is no surprise whose side Colombians have taken. “When I was on the floor, they gave me the strength and the ­courage to get up,” said Shakira.

One of Colombia’s best-loved authors is back in the spotlight with a sweeping novel that draws heavily on a near-death experience and the tragic loss of a friend.

Ahora y en la hora (Now and at the Hour) is Héctor Abad Faciolince’s first novel since he narrowly survived the ­bombing of a Kramatorsk pizzeria in 2023, which killed his friend, the Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina.

The novel blends Abad’s real-life trauma with fiction as the ­protagonist seeks to make sense of his survival. The lead ­character reflects on his ­personal loss while drawing parallels between the ­suffering in Ukraine and Colombia’s own history of ­violence. “I recognise the silences, the fear, the grief,” he said.

Miguel Ángel “Supermán” López has been a darling of Colombian cycling since he broke through in 2018, finishing on the podium at the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España. But he was banned in 2023 for taking Menotropin, a drug that stimulates the ­production of testosterone.

López has vehemently denied the accusations and labelled the allegations a “witch-hunt”, but last week the court of arbitration for sport upheld the four-year ban.

The ban has been a serious blow to fans across the cycling-mad country, but Supermán, 31, has vowed to keep fighting. “This is not just a ­personal cause, but also a fight for justice and the rights of all cyclists and ­athletes,” he said.

Photograph by Jamie Saldarriaga/AFP