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Bellingcat and Cerosetenta have uncovered online links between the first South American branch of the far-right Active Club movement in Colombia and a mainstream political figure who ran in recent elections for the country's largest right-wing political party. www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/05...

Active Club Bogota is the only registered South American branch of the international Active Club movement. While presented as social clubs for young men, the network serves deeper ideological aims. In the past two years, the Bogota branch marked Hitler’s birthday with cupcakes and book burnings.

Bellingcat has tracked the growth of the Active Club network in America and Europe for years. Founded by white supremacist Robert Rundo, the clubs host combat events and festivals, and sell merchandise to recruit young men into the far right. Read our coverage here: www.bellingcat.com?s=active+club

Faces are often obscured in Active Club content, but recognisable tattoos have helped Bellingcat and Cerosetenta track a prominent member of AC Bogota "Javier Orlik Ruiz" in a video with Colombian political candidate Jorge Rodriguez.

In the video, a figure that appears to be Ruiz is heavily pixelated cleaning up left wing graffiti on a wall previously featured in AC Bogota content. Bellingcat matched tattoos visible in frames of the video to those which could be seen in Ruiz’s other social media channels.

One of the messages painted over in Rodriguez's video was “Creole Nazis will not pass” – a term that refers to Nazi sympathisers in Latin America.

Active Club Bogota's official Instagram account followed just over 60 accounts earlier this year, and 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.

Bellingcat and Cerosetenta have chosen to name Rodriguez and Ruiz because they can both be considered public figures: Rodriguez is a politician, and Ruiz appears is the main contact of Active Club Bogota’s Telegram channel, suggesting that he plays a prominent role in the group.

Did you find any evidence of Ohio’s Bernie Moreno’s involvement?

You can read our partner Cerosetenta's reporting in Spanish here: cerosetenta.uniandes.edu.co/las-conexion...