● Bellingcat 📅 11/05/2026 à 18:26

Cybersécurité 👤 Michael Colborne

🏷️ Tags : cert free pm pto rte sanctions

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. Support Bellingcat Your donations directly contribute to our ability to publish groundbreaking investigations and uncover wrongdoing around the world. Donate 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 officially recognised South American chapter of the neo-Nazi network started in the US by white supremacist Robert Rundo. The international movement, which Bellingcat has covered extensively, is known for using fitness, fighting and fashion to recruit young men and boys into the far right, normalise fascist ideas and prepare them for physical violence against perceived enemies. Active Club Bogota’s official Instagram account followed just over 60 accounts earlier this year. Rodriguez’s public Instagram account was, and continues to be, one of them. In March this year, Rodriguez also “liked” a March 2026 post from the group that featured a flag for a neo-Nazi movement. A March 15, 2026 Instagram post from Active Club Bogota, showing Jorge Rodriguez’s “like” on the post. Bellingcat has obscured account details in the photo. While Rodriguez was unsuccessful in his bid for a seat in parliament, garnering just 4,401 votes, he presents himself as a prominent member of Centro Democratico and claims to have founded the party’s largest youth group. He has appeared in photos and events on his social media alongside notable figures from the party, such as former Vice Minister of Justice Rafael Nieto Loaiza, party director Gabriel Vallejo, presidential candidate Paloma Valencia and the party’s founder, Alvaro Uribe Velez. Alexander Ritzmann, a senior advisor with the Counter-Extremism Project (CEP), told Bellingcat that an affiliation between Active Club Bogota and a political actor like Rodriguez should be taken seriously. Heidi Beirich, co-founder of Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), said that any sort of legitimacy lent to an outwardly neo-Nazi group, like those that make up the Active Club movement, “sets a dangerous precedent”. Bellingcat’s investigation into Active Club Bogota also suggests that the group has connections with the international far-right, with allies and “brothers” from Brazil to Spain, as well as apparent links with Combat 18, a violent neo-Nazi network accused of being an “international criminal organisation” and terrorist group. There is no evidence to suggest that Rodriguez has any connections to these other groups. Centro Democratico was the biggest challenger to Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s left-wing coalition Pacto Historico in the March elections, securing 17 seats in the Senate, up from 13 in 2022, and a majority of 32 seats in the House of Representatives, double the 16 it won in the previous elections. Subscribe to the Bellingcat newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter for first access to our published content and events that our staff and contributors are involved with, including interviews and training workshops. In response to Bellingcat’s queries, Centro Democratico National Director Gabriel Vallejo said the party was unaware of any proven links between Rodriguez and far-right, neo-Nazi, or extremist groups. Vallejo said that the Party’s candidates retain the right to exercise their freedom of expression and define their ideological affinities within the limits of the Constitution and the law. However, Vallejo said that Centro Democratico does not support or endorse any type of link with organisations or movements that incite hate speech, violence or the glorification of crime. “The Party maintains a firm stance in defence of the Constitution, the law, democratic institutions, and respect for human dignity, as well as in the protection of the public interest and fundamental rights,” he said. “In this regard, any conduct that contravenes these principles is contrary to the Party’s guidelines and will be subject to the corresponding actions in accordance with the Statutes and applicable regulations.” Tattoo Identifications In Rodriguez’s Feb. 26 video, the former political candidate can be clearly seen. However, several others had their identities obscured, with one particular individual being completely pixelated from head to toe in almost every frame he appeared in, even where only part of his arm was visible. Screenshots from the Feb. 26 video showing a heavily pixelated individual But thanks to a few frames where parts of the individual’s arms or hands are briefly unpixelated, or where colouration shows through the pixelation, Bellingcat was able to match the person shown in the video to a prominent Active Club Bogota member and possible leader – an individual who goes by Javier or “Orlik” Ruiz – who Rodriguez follows on Instagram and vice versa. Between April and May 2024, the first few weeks after Active Club Bogota’s Telegram channel was set up, eight posts listed an author who went by “Orlik Ruiz”. Bellingcat searched online for social media accounts and information related to “Orlik Ruiz” and quickly found numerous public social media accounts that appear to belong to the same individual, with posts showing photos of his face and tattoos. Several of these accounts used the name Javier Ruiz. These accounts included a YouTube account featuring 2022 video clips showing Ruiz and other men at a shooting range, holding what appear to be automatic rifles. Screenshots from Javier or “Orlik” Ruiz’s Telegram and social media accounts. Source: Telegram, Instagram, YouTube; redaction of handles by Bellingcat In most of these social media accounts, Ruiz posted numerous photos exposing his face and, more frequently, his tattoos from multiple angles, allowing Bellingcat to confirm that the same individual appears in the vast majority of Active Club Bogota’s online content. Active Club Bogota’s Telegram channel listed an account with the name “Javi” as the group’s main contact. There were more than 30 posts on this account’s own profile page, and though the face of the person shown in the photos posted from this account was obscured, the matching tattoos in many of these posts all pointed to the same person. Left: A screenshot of an August 2025 video posted by Active Club Bogota showing Javier Ruiz, identifiable by his tattoos including a Nazi swastika flag tattoo and blue band on his left arm. Right: A cropped photo of Ruiz, the same blue band tattoo visible on his left arm, posted on one of his VKontakte accounts in 2020. Ruiz’s tattoos had several distinctive features that appeared across multiple photos. The backs of both of his hands are tattooed up to the base knuckles. He also has an arrow tattoo on his left middle finger, pointing down towards the base knuckle, and a red design that circles his left wrist. These match several features of tattoos on the individual’s left hand that can be made out despite the pixelation, including what appears to be red colouration on the individual’s wrist, heavy dark hand tattooing, and also discolouration on the left middle finger, suggesting tattoos on that finger. A pixelated left hand in the Feb. 26 video at 0:37, with colouration of tattoos showing through the pixelation. The brightness of the photo has been adjusted by Bellingcat A cropped photo of Ruiz from his own Telegram account, showing red tattooing on his left wrist, similar heavy left hand tattoos and two dark left middle finger tattoos, like the individual in the Feb. 26 video While blurred footage alone is not enough to confirm matching tattoos, several other significantly more detailed and clearer comparisons could be made. In one frame, a very similar arrow to that seen in photos of Ruiz appears on the left middle finger of the individual shown in the video. Left: An arrow tattoo visible on Ruiz’s left middle finger in a photo from his Telegram account. Right: A similar-looking mark visible on the left middle finger of the pixelated individual in Rodriguez’s Feb. 26 video (at 0:43). Annotations by Bellingcat The screengrab showing the mark on the pixelated individual’s left middle finger overlaid on the photo from Ruiz’s Telegram account in a GIF created and annotated by Bellingcat. The images have been rotated, and the lighting of the screengrab has been adjusted for clearer comparison. In addition, there are gaps in the tattoos and a rounded shape visible on his left arm that are consistent in position with photos of Ruiz’s tattoos. A gap in the tattoos (red arrow) and rounded shape (blue arrow) visible on the unidentified man’s left arm in a screengrab of the Feb. 26 video at 0:19 (left), is consistent with images of Ruiz’s tattooed left arm posted on Telegram (centre and right). There are also several frames in the video where the individual’s right hand is visible. These unpixelated, although still blurry, frames show the individual has heavy tattooing on their right hand that forms a curved shape between their knuckles. This is consistent with the shape of the tattoos on the right hand of Active Club Bogota’s Ruiz as seen in photos posted on the group’s Telegram channel and on social media. Top left and right: Cropped frames from the Feb. 26 video (at 0:41) showing the individual’s right hand and heavy right-hand tattooing; brightness adjusted by Bellingcat. Bottom left and right: Cropped screenshots from a Jan. 2025 Active Club Bogota video (left) and a Dec. 2025 Instagram video by an Active Club Bogota member (right) showing Ruiz’s right hand and his hand tattoo Another frame shows a small red tattoo visible on the middle-right finger as well as a detail between the index finger and right pinky. This matches with other, clearer images of Ruiz’s tattoos visible on his private Instagram. Left: A screenshot of a photo from Ruiz’s private Instagram account. Right: a photo of the right hand from the Feb. 26 video (at 0:41). A small anchor tattoo below the knuckle and a detail in his hand tattoo can be seen in the same position. Furthermore, in several frames of the video, the pixelated individual’s upper-right arm is visible, showing red colouration that is consistent in size and shape with images of Ruiz’s tattooed right arm. A screenshot from the Feb. 26 video (at 0:44), showing red and black tattooing on the pixelated individual’s upper right arm. The brightness of the photo has been adjusted by Bellingcat A cropped photo of Ruiz from his own Telegram account, showing very similar red and black tattooing on his upper right arm as the individual in the Feb. 26 video Promoting Fascist Ideas in the Region The first sign we could find online of Active Club Bogota’s appearance on the city’s neo-Nazi scene was in early 2024, when its official Telegram channel was created. The official Active Club website that Rundo, the American founder of the Active Club movement, has openly promoted in several podcasts features a map of “official” Active Clubs around the world. As of the time of publication, Active Club Bogota is the only one in South America on the map. A screenshot of South America from a map on the official Active Club website, featuring the only “official” group on the continent, Active Club Bogota. But social media posts from Active Club Bogota suggest that the Colombia-based group has been attempting to promote the development of other Active Clubs in Latin America, with mixed results. In September 2025, Active Club Bogota promoted a new Active Club in Brazil, boasting that “our brothers … have also taken a big step forward.” A screenshot of a September 2025 post from Active Club Bogota This Brazilian Active Club Telegram channel no longer exists as of February 2026. Also in September 2025, Active Club Bogota promoted the Telegram channel of a new Active Club in Argentina, which they referred to as “our Argentinian friends”. This Telegram channel, like the Brazilian Active Club Telegram channel, no longer exists as of February 2026. In December 2025, Active Club Bogota promoted the Telegram channel of another new Active Club based in Mexico City, which the Colombian channel referred to as “our Mexican brothers, who are joining this great movement that seeks to reclaim our identity and heritage”. Related articles by BellingcatEuropeThe Small Bulgarian Streetwear Shop Designing Clothes for the Far-Right ‘Active Club’ Movement Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said that Active Clubs are a concerted effort to market the far right to a new generation of young people. “Active Clubs can and do serve as a bridge between older generations of neo-Nazis and the current wave of youth engaging with the movement,” she said. “Groups like the one in Bogota are hyper-local enterprises that also connect its members to a transnational extremist network of other Active Clubs and white supremacist groups that share a similar worldview,” she added. Ritzmann, from CEP, also said that the threat posed by the group should not only be measured by its size. “Even a small local chapter can function as a recruitment hub, a training environment, and a bridge into wider transnational extremist networks,” he said. International Connections Our identification of Ruiz also led to evidence of links between Active Club Bogota and international neo-Nazi networks Blood & Honour and Combat 18. In a May 2024 photo posted on his public Telegram account, a man whose face is covered by a cloth mask and further obscured with a digital image was pictured standing next to two neo-Nazi musicians who were in Bogota to perform at a concert that Ruiz had promoted on his Telegram account. One of the musicians is British neo-Nazi Ken McLellan, who has long been associated with Blood & Honour. The tattoos on the lower left leg and right hand of the man whose face was obscured appear to be the same as Ruiz’s – matching the shape, colour and position – based on photos publicly posted on Active Club Bogota’s Telegram channel. Ruiz, identifiable by his tattoos on his lower left leg and right hand (shown in photos in the “Tattoos Identification” section), posing with Michael Grosch, a member of a German neo-Nazi band (centre) and British neo-Nazi Ken McLellan (right) Left: The lower leg tattoo of a man shown in Ruiz’s photo. Right: The same tattoo on Ruiz’s left leg, from public Telegram posts on Active Club Bogota’s Telegram channel. Blood & Honour is an international neo-Nazi network founded in the United Kingdom in 1987; McLellan and his band were present at this founding meeting and still regularly perform at Blood & Honour-affiliated concerts. Blood & Honour’s affiliate group Combat 18, described as the “armed branch” of Blood & Honour, was founded in 1992. Members and associates of Blood & Honour and Combat 18 have been accused of crimes including possessing explosives and drug trafficking. Individuals associated with both groups have been convicted of crimes including attempted murder, murder and terrorism. Both groups have been designated terrorist organisations in Canada since 2019 and have been subject to financial counter-terrorism sanctions in the United Kingdom since January 2025. Screenshots from videos posted by Active Club Bogota in October 2024 (left) and January 2025 (right), both featuring a flag commonly associated with intern

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