ABSTRACT
This chapter makes a critical reconstruction of the Colombian institutional response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This response was undertaken in the midst of very difficult economic and social conditions and was characterised by an authoritarian drift by the Colombian government. These difficult conditions and this drift can be synthesised in the following elements: (i) the pandemic was accompanied by a severe economic crisis; (ii) this economic crisis particularly affected the most vulnerable which, in turn led to (iii) a social outburst; (iv) the government turned to emergency measures and the restriction of human rights (both to cope with the pandemic and the social unrest); and (v) all this was accompanied by a weak response from the public authorities called upon to control the executive.
