This investigation is a collaboration between Bellingcat and Colombian media outlet Cerosetenta. You can read Cerosetenta’s piece in Spanish here .
A video posted on Feb. 26 shows several men painting over graffiti in Restrepo, a neighbourhood in Bogota, Colombia, and replacing them with images of their own: a logo used by Colombian political candidate and businessman Jorge Rodriguez, who is one of the men shown in the footage.
“Today we are defending public space to stop generating hatred in future generations!” said the caption posted on Instagram by Rodriguez, who unsuccessfully ran for office in the March 2026 congressional elections as part of Centro Democratico, the country’s largest right-wing party.
But at least one of the graffiti-ed pieces they painted over carried a message critical of, rather than promoting, hate: “Creole Nazis will not pass” – using a term that refers to Nazi sympathisers in Latin America.
A screenshot of Rodriguez’s Feb. 26, 2026 video showing men painting over graffiti with the words “Nazis Criollos no pasaran”, or “Creole Nazis will not pass”. Source: Instagram
And although the faces of most of the men shown in the video were pixelated, the tattoos visible on one of them have multiple similarities with a prominent member of neo-Nazi group Active Club Bogota – an individual known as Javier “Orlik” Ruiz, whom Rodriguez follows on Instagram and who “liked” the video.
In response to Bellingcat and Cerosetenta’s queries via Instagram, Rodriguez did not answer questions about his relationship with Active Club Bogota or the individual we identified as appearing in his videos, but said he was “not obligated to respond to any interview or request without a court order”. He also threatened legal action if we used his image or name in this investigation, saying that this would violate his rights to privacy, reputation and data protection, as well as the right to his own image.
Take our survey
Help shape the future of our collective.
Similarly, Ruiz did not reply to questions that Bellingcat sent via email, including on his role in Active Club Bogota, but responded to our query by threatening legal action if we used his name, image or background information about him without his “prior, express and informed authorisation”. Ruiz said in his email that, among other things, processing his personal data without authorisation could be considered a violation of personal data under Colombian law.
After Bellingcat replied to both Rodriguez and Ruiz, noting that they did not answer our questions and inviting them again to do so, Ruiz responded with another legal threat referencing data laws – again without answering any questions related to this investigation.
Bellingcat and Cerosetenta have consulted legal experts in both the Netherlands, where Bellingcat is headquartered, and in Colombia on the question of how privacy laws in both countries are balanced against the right to freedom of expression. In light of (amongst other factors) the public interest in this information and the fact that both Rodriguez and Ruiz qualify as “public figures” (persons who have, through their acts or their position, entered the public arena), the reporting in this article and the editorial choices made by Bellingcat are protected by the freedom of expression.
Both Rodriguez’s and Ruiz’s full responses are included at the end of this article.
Active Club Bogota is the local branch of the international Active Club movement . It hosted celebrations of Adolf Hitler’s birthday at a Bogota community centre in 2025 and 2026. At the 2025 event, the group hosted a Nazi-inspired book burning. This year, the group celebrated with Nazi swastika cupcakes, a swastika-emblazoned birthday cake and the screening of a 1940 Nazi propaganda film.
A still from an April 2025 video posted by Active Club Bogota, showing a Spanish translation of Jewish Holocaust victim Anne Frank’s diary, placed in a charcoal barbecue to be burned outside a Bogota community centre. A Spanish-language translation of a book of essays by physicist Albert Einstein, who was Jewish, was also burned.
An April 2026 photo posted on Active Club Bogota’s Telegram channel showing a portrait of Hitler and cupcakes decorated with swastikas.
A photo of an event held at the same community centre commemorating Hitler’s birthday in 2026, posted on Active Club Bogota’s public Telegram channel. Blurring in the original posted image.
Bellingcat and our Colombian partner Cerosetenta reached out multiple times via email and phone to the president of the relevant Community Action Board managing the community centre where these events were held, using contact information listed in a document by the local mayor’s office. As of publication, we have not received a response to our emails, and calls to the president of the community centre have gone unanswered.
Active Club Bogota, which has had an online presence since early 2024, appears to be the only officiall…
Read the full article at Bellingcat →
Netherlands