By: Staff Writer
February 17, 2026
Colombian President Gustavo Petro declared an economic, social, and ecological emergency on Wednesday, 11 February, in response to flooding across the north of Colombia.
A notice on the Colombian government’s website said the decision was formalized in Decree 0150 of February 11, 2026, through which Petro activated the State of Economic, Social and Ecological Emergency in Córdoba, Antioquia, La Guajira, Sucre, Bolívar, Cesar, Magdalena and Chocó, for a period of 30 calendar days.
“The decree recalls that the Constitution empowers the president to declare a state of emergency when events occur that seriously and imminently disrupt or threaten to disrupt the economic, social or ecological order of the country, or when a situation of serious public calamity arises.”
Under the measure, Petro will be able to impose taxes through decree, and is expected to attempt to raise COP$8 trillion (USD$2.1 billion) to address the crisis.
The measure comes less than two months after Petro’s previous attempt at declaring an economic emergency and the Senate said it will monitor all measures to guarantee “respect for the democratic order and the rule of law”.
Petro had previously declared an economic emergency for a period of thirty days from December 22, 2025. This followed the government’s failure to gain the Senate’s approval on a tax bill that sought to increase the national budget by USD$4 billion in 2026.
However, on January 29 the Constitutional Court took the unprecedented decision to overrule his decree while a final decision was made. This prompted an angry reaction from the President, who claimed that it represented a “real breakdown of constitutional order”. He went on to highlight his government’s role as a “friend of the working people” while his Interior Minister, Armando Benedetti, claimed the Court was helping to protect the “megarich”.
Opposition members of the Senate from various parties voiced their disagreement with the decree in a debate on January 30. Angélica Lozano of Partido Alianza Verde branded the measure “unconstitutional”, claiming it put the “separation of powers at risk”.
After the Constitutional Court refused to lift the suspension, Petro announced a new economic emergency this week. The decree details that all adopted measures will be “strictly limited to averting the crisis and preventing the spread of its effects, without permanently replacing or altering the ordinary legal system.”
The Senate has since announced “political control” of the state of emergency. This means they will monitor each measure to ensure they “respond urgently, transparently and effectively” to the affected departments.